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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 · chest · scale · bulb · coach · spring · racket · pitcher

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. scale — in music
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bulb — for light
  7. spring — a coil
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. chest — of your body
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. spring — the season
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. chest — a box
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. chest — of your body
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. spring — of water
  19. cold — not warm
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bulb — for light
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. scale — size or range

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