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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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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: court · march · file · saw · scale · rash · pitch · sharp

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. file — a tool
  3. court — of a king
  4. court — of law
  5. file — a document
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. march — music
  8. march — the month
  9. sharp — clever
  10. scale — in music
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. march — the month
  14. scale — size or range
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. rash — hasty
  20. file — a line of people
  21. saw — the tool
  22. pitch — completely
  23. rash — a series
  24. saw — the tool

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