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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: hand · swing · pitch · club · stock · court · nail · scale

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. scale — in music
  3. swing — in golf
  4. club — for golf
  5. club — a group
  6. stock — goods
  7. swing — music
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. pitch — completely
  10. club — for dancing
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. swing — to play on
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. stock — shares
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. court — of a king
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. hand — help
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. scale — size or range
  22. hand — in cards
  23. court — of law
  24. nail — for a hammer

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