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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: shower · kid · march · pitch · mug · pit · land · file

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. land — to come down
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. pit — a hole
  5. pitch — completely
  6. file — a tool
  7. file — a line of people
  8. mug — a cup
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. shower — rain
  11. file — a document
  12. march — the month
  13. kid — child
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. pit — in a race
  17. mug — to rob
  18. kid — to tease
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. march — the month
  21. land — ground
  22. mug — a face
  23. land — a country
  24. shower — to wash

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