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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: chip · cold · stick · degree · drill · pitch · arm · coach

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. degree — an amount
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — an illness
  6. chip — for betting
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. drill — army training
  9. degree — from a university
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. cold — not warm
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. degree — temperature
  15. drill — the tool
  16. chip — to eat
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. drill — a practice
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. pitch — completely
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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