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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.

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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: cold · mine · lie · snap · ball · swing · row · pitch

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. row — a line
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. lie — to recline
  7. pitch — completely
  8. mine — for digging
  9. ball — a dance
  10. cold — an illness
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. swing — music
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. ball — a great time
  17. snap — to click
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. row — to paddle
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. swing — in golf
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. swing — to play on
  24. lie — an untruth

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