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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 120 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: field · cue · pitch · safe · cold · race · straw · hand

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  8. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. safe — a strongbox
  3. hand — in cards
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cue — a signal
  7. safe — out of danger
  8. safe — out of danger
  9. cold — not warm
  10. pitch — completely
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. field — a subject
  13. cue — for pool
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. field — farmland
  16. race — a contest
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. race — humankind
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. race — the arms race
  21. field — for sport
  22. cue — a hint
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. cold — an illness

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