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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: kid · land · prune · shower · ground · wind · dip · pitch

  1. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. kid — to tease
  4. wind — moving air
  5. shower — to wash
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. ground — the earth
  10. ground — a position
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. land — a country
  14. prune — to trim
  15. dip — to sink
  16. pitch — completely
  17. prune — to trim
  18. wind — moving air
  19. shower — rain
  20. kid — child
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. land — to come down
  23. land — ground
  24. ground — crushed

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