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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: tube · stand · pitch · kid · cold · bat · land · current

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. I can't ________________ this cold.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  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. land — to come down
  2. kid — child
  3. tube — a container
  4. pitch — completely
  5. current — happening now
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. current — of water
  10. stand — for spectators
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. stand — to bear
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. kid — to tease
  17. bat — the animal
  18. current — electric
  19. tube — the underground
  20. land — ground
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. cold — an illness
  23. land — a country
  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