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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: rest · wound · cue · field · pitcher · hide · pitch · content

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. cue — a hint
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. rest — what's left
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. cue — a signal
  7. content — happy
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. field — a subject
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. rest — what's left
  15. wound — an injury
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. rest — a break
  18. field — farmland
  19. cue — for pool
  20. field — for sport
  21. wound — an injury
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. pitch — completely

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