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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: chest · scale · hand · swing · lie · spring · pitch · ground

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. scale — in music
  3. pitch — completely
  4. scale — size or range
  5. hand — in cards
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. lie — to recline
  9. ground — a position
  10. hand — help
  11. spring — the season
  12. chest — a box
  13. ground — the earth
  14. swing — music
  15. spring — of water
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. swing — to play on
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. spring — a coil
  21. chest — of your body
  22. swing — in golf
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. chest — of your body

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