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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: wake · cold · file · pit · rash · pass · kid · pitcher

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. pit — in a race
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. rash — a series
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. pass — a permit
  10. rash — hasty
  11. file — a document
  12. wake — a trail
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — not warm
  17. pit — a hole
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. file — a line of people
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. file — a tool
  24. kid — child

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