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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: game · rest · bark · pitch · straw · pitcher · shower · chest

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. pitch — completely
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. shower — rain
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. game — a match
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. rest — what's left
  10. chest — a box
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. chest — of your body
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. chest — of your body
  17. shower — to wash
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. bark — to shout
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. rest — what's left
  24. game — wild animals

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