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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: pitch · mate · ground · racket · land · leaves · stem · cold

  1. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — lets stay
  2. mate — a partner
  3. stem — to come from
  4. land — to come down
  5. pitch — completely
  6. mate — a friend
  7. land — ground
  8. ground — crushed
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. ground — the earth
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. land — a country
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. ground — a position
  23. mate — to breed
  24. leaves — of a tree

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