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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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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: straw · fan · pitch · game · stick · cold · last · perch

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. pitch — completely
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. last — finally
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. game — wild animals
  10. last — to go on
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. last — final
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. cold — an illness
  21. game — a match
  22. cold — not warm
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. straw — dry grass

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