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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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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 · field · saw · pitch · ruler · cold · mark · cabinet

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. cold — not warm
  3. chest — a box
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. chest — of your body
  8. mark — a trace
  9. pitch — completely
  10. cabinet — a cupboard
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. field — farmland
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. saw — the tool
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. saw — the tool
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. field — a subject
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. mark — a grade
  23. chest — of your body
  24. ruler — for measuring

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