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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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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: perch · foot · chest · pitch · tear · pitcher · degree · hide

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. tear — from crying
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. degree — from a university
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. tear — to rip
  10. chest — a box
  11. degree — an amount
  12. tear — from crying
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. foot — a measure
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. degree — temperature
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. chest — of your body
  21. perch — the fish
  22. chest — of your body
  23. pitch — completely
  24. foot — part of the 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