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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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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: pound · pitch · content · kid · bear · straw · last · shower

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. bear — the animal
  4. kid — to tease
  5. content — happy
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. shower — to wash
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. kid — child
  12. last — to go on
  13. last — final
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. shower — rain
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. pitch — completely
  19. pound — a weight
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. bear — the animal
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. content — the amount

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