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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: chest · land · rash · hide · racket · pitch · stick · cold

  1. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. cold — not warm
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. cold — an illness
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. rash — a series
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. chest — a box
  15. chest — of your body
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. land — ground
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. land — to come down
  21. rash — hasty
  22. pitch — completely
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. land — a country

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