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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: spring · bat · board · chair · pitch · temple · ground · wound

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. spring — the season
  3. ground — the earth
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. ground — crushed
  6. bat — the animal
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. chair — a leader
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. wound — an injury
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. spring — a coil
  14. ground — a position
  15. board — to get on
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. board — a committee
  22. pitch — completely
  23. wound — an injury
  24. spring — of water

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