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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: pitch · court · shower · field · row · craft · track · spring

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. spring — a coil
  4. shower — rain
  5. field — farmland
  6. court — of a king
  7. row — a line
  8. track — a song
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. track — to keep track
  13. row — to paddle
  14. pitch — completely
  15. field — a subject
  16. spring — the season
  17. craft — boats
  18. spring — of water
  19. field — for sport
  20. track — a path
  21. court — of law
  22. craft — a skill
  23. court — for sport
  24. pitch — a sports field

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