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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: race · pitch · straw · fan · rash · bat · cell · content

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. rash — a series
  8. bat — the animal
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. race — humankind
  11. content — happy
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. cell — in biology
  15. cell — a phone
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. rash — hasty
  19. pitch — completely
  20. race — a contest
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. content — the amount
  24. race — the arms race

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