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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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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: season · scale · tear · pitch · ground · shower · deal · kid

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. ground — a position
  3. shower — to wash
  4. deal — to handle
  5. kid — child
  6. tear — to rip
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. ground — the earth
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. season — in sport
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. tear — from crying
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. scale — size or range
  17. scale — in music
  18. shower — rain
  19. kid — to tease
  20. ground — crushed
  21. tear — from crying
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. pitch — completely
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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