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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: season · race · mine · cell · pitch · lie · hide · bat

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. lie — to recline
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. race — the arms race
  8. bat — the animal
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. pitch — completely
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. cell — in biology
  16. race — humankind
  17. race — a contest
  18. mine — for digging
  19. season — of the year
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. season — in sport

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