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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: cold · saw · mine · cue · season · cell · wound · pitch

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  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. saw — the tool
  2. cue — a signal
  3. cell — in biology
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. season — in sport
  10. wound — an injury
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. mine — for digging
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cue — a hint
  19. saw — the tool
  20. cell — a phone
  21. cue — for pool
  22. season — of the year
  23. wound — an injury
  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