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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: cold · march · scale · pitch · game · snap · bark · racket

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. game — wild animals
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pitch — completely
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. march — the month
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. march — the month
  12. game — a match
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. snap — to click
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. cold — an illness
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. scale — size or range
  20. march — music
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. bark — to shout
  24. scale — in music

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