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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 · cold · content · spell · firm · bat · game · kick

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. firm — decided
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. pitch — completely
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. content — the amount
  10. firm — a company
  11. firm — steady
  12. content — happy
  13. spell — letters
  14. bat — the animal
  15. game — a match
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. kick — in football
  22. game — wild animals
  23. spell — a short time
  24. spell — magic

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