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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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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: bat · pitch · rock · bank · cold · cell · ground · wave

  1. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — of a river
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. ground — a position
  4. cell — in biology
  5. pitch — completely
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. cell — a phone
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. bank — for money
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. ground — crushed
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bank — for money
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. rock — a stone
  17. cold — not warm
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rock — music
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. ground — the earth
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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