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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: band · squash · pitch · court · cold · tube · toast · scale

  1. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. pitch — completely
  3. cold — an illness
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. cold — not warm
  7. squash — the sport
  8. court — for sport
  9. squash — to crush
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. tube — the underground
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. band — a ring
  14. scale — size or range
  15. scale — in music
  16. court — of law
  17. toast — bread
  18. court — of a king
  19. tube — a container
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. toast — the most admired
  24. band — a music group

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com