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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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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: mine · hand · cue · pitch · kid · race · dip · arm

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  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. mine — for digging
  2. kid — to tease
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. pitch — completely
  7. cue — for pool
  8. race — humankind
  9. hand — help
  10. cue — a signal
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. race — a contest
  13. kid — child
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. cue — a hint
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. dip — to sink
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. hand — in cards
  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