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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: pitcher · court · rest · snap · cold · hide · ground · spell

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. court — for sport
  5. spell — magic
  6. ground — crushed
  7. cold — not warm
  8. spell — letters
  9. snap — to click
  10. rest — a break
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. ground — a position
  13. rest — what's left
  14. rest — what's left
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. spell — a short time
  17. court — of a king
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. ground — the earth
  21. court — of law
  22. cold — an illness
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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