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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: content · game · pit · cold · band · ball · pitcher · ground

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. pit — a hole
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pit — in a race
  8. game — wild animals
  9. ground — crushed
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. content — the amount
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. ball — a dance
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. content — happy
  16. ground — the earth
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. band — a ring
  20. band — a music group
  21. ground — a position
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. ball — a great time

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