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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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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: pitch · stock · bore · cold · ground · arm · wound · spring

  1. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. bore — to tire
  4. ground — the earth
  5. ground — crushed
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wound — an injury
  8. cold — not warm
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. bore — to drill
  11. spring — the season
  12. stock — goods
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. spring — of water
  17. spring — a coil
  18. pitch — completely
  19. stock — shares
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. wound — an injury
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. ground — a position
  24. bore — gave birth

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