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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: cold · pitch · mug · shower · date · arm · last · present

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. Where did you ________________ them?
  16. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. shower — to wash
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — not warm
  6. last — final
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. present — a gift
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. last — to go on
  11. present — the time now
  12. mug — a face
  13. last — finally
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. mug — to rob
  16. mug — a cup
  17. pitch — completely
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. cold — an illness
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. shower — rain
  24. date — the fruit

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