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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: kid · spell · sharp · stem · face · pitch · row · game

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. face — to confront
  3. stem — to come from
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. game — a match
  7. kid — to tease
  8. face — part of the head
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. kid — child
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. face — to point toward
  14. row — to paddle
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. game — wild animals
  17. spell — a short time
  18. row — a line
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. spell — letters
  21. spell — magic
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. pitch — completely
  24. sharp — clever

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