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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 116 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 · pitch · mark · march · fall · land · calf · mine

  1. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a grade
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. land — to come down
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. land — ground
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. march — the month
  11. mark — a trace
  12. fall — the season
  13. march — music
  14. kid — to tease
  15. land — a country
  16. fall — to drop
  17. mine — for digging
  18. fall — to drop
  19. march — the month
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. kid — child
  24. pitch — completely

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