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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: pitch · ball · spring · ground · trunk · row · mouse · wound

  1. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. ground — crushed
  4. spring — of water
  5. spring — the season
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. row — a line
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. row — to paddle
  10. ball — a dance
  11. ground — a position
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. wound — an injury
  14. pitch — completely
  15. spring — a coil
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. wound — an injury
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. ground — the earth

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