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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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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: cabinet · bark · clip · bat · content · rock · pitch · pitcher

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. bark — to shout
  11. clip — for paper
  12. rock — music
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — a video
  15. pitch — completely
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. rock — to move gently
  20. rock — a stone
  21. content — the amount
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. content — happy

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