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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: march · rule · pitch · pop · cold · pit · rest · chest

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  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. pit — a fruit stone
  2. march — the month
  3. rule — a law
  4. march — the month
  5. pop — music
  6. rule — government
  7. pit — in a race
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. chest — a box
  10. rest — what's left
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pop — soda
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cold — not warm
  15. chest — of your body
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. pit — a hole
  19. march — music
  20. pop — to visit
  21. rest — what's left
  22. rest — a break
  23. cold — the Cold War
  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