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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 120 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: pitch · pop · fan · straw · mark · spell · row · cold

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cold — not warm
  3. row — a line
  4. mark — a trace
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. mark — a grade
  11. spell — a short time
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. cold — an illness
  14. pitch — completely
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. pop — soda
  18. row — to paddle
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. spell — magic
  21. spell — letters
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. pop — music
  24. pop — to visit

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