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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: perch · nail · bat · land · date · pitch · sharp · straw

  1. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. land — to come down
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. land — ground
  10. land — a country
  11. date — the fruit
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. perch — the fish
  14. bat — the animal
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. pitch — completely
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. sharp — clever
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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