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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: cold · capital · pitch · stand · bass · straw · fork · bat

  1. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. capital — money
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. capital — a city
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. bat — the animal
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. fork — in a road
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bass — the fish
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bass — low music
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. pitch — completely
  24. straw — dry grass

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