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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 116 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: pit · swing · pitch · bark · pitcher · capital · bear · clip

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. pit — a hole
  6. clip — for paper
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. pit — in a race
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. clip — a video
  11. capital — money
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. bear — the animal
  14. bark — to shout
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. swing — to play on
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bear — the animal
  19. pitch — completely
  20. swing — in golf
  21. swing — music
  22. capital — a city
  23. bear — to put up with
  24. clip — to cut

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