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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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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 · deal · snap · stem · trunk · row · cold · pitcher

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. snap — to click
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. cold — an illness
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. cold — not warm
  14. stem — to come from
  15. deal — to handle
  16. row — a line
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. row — to paddle
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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