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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 120 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: bass · coach · pitch · cold · kid · wax · calf · saw

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. wax — to grow
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. bass — the fish
  6. cold — an illness
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. kid — to tease
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. kid — child
  14. saw — the tool
  15. bass — low music
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. cold — not warm
  19. saw — the tool
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. pitch — completely

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