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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: pitch · cold · lean · band · hand · snap · pop · sharp

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. band — a music group
  3. snap — to click
  4. pop — to visit
  5. pop — music
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. pop — soda
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. hand — help
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. hand — in cards
  16. lean — thin
  17. cold — not warm
  18. sharp — clever
  19. pitch — completely
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. lean — to bend
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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