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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: coach · foot · jam · cold · band · march · race · pitch

  1. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. cold — an illness
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. march — the month
  7. jam — a tight spot
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. cold — not warm
  10. race — a contest
  11. march — the month
  12. race — the arms race
  13. pitch — completely
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. band — a music group
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. race — humankind
  21. march — music
  22. band — a ring
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. jam — in traffic

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