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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 116 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: saw · cold · wound · dip · pitch · kick · bat · scale

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. cold — an illness
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. dip — to sink
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. saw — the tool
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. pitch — completely
  16. scale — size or range
  17. scale — in music
  18. bat — the animal
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wound — an injury
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. kick — in football
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bat — for baseball

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