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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 120 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: wound · cold · pass · race · spell · swing · cap · pitch

  1. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. race — humankind
  4. cold — not warm
  5. swing — to play on
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. wound — an injury
  8. cap — a lid
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. spell — magic
  11. pitch — completely
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. cap — of ice
  14. spell — a short time
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. pass — a permit
  17. race — a contest
  18. swing — music
  19. cap — a hat
  20. cold — an illness
  21. wound — an injury
  22. swing — in golf
  23. spell — letters
  24. race — the arms race

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