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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: present · court · bat · fork · pitch · perch · chip · mine

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. pitch — completely
  5. present — a gift
  6. fork — in a road
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. court — of a king
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. perch — the fish
  12. chip — for betting
  13. court — for sport
  14. present — the time now
  15. court — of law
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. bat — the animal
  19. chip — to eat
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. present — there
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. mine — for digging
  24. perch — for a bird

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