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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: pit · pitch · swing · bowl · bulb · cold · content · bark

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. bulb — for light
  4. pit — a hole
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — an illness
  7. swing — to play on
  8. swing — in golf
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. bark — to shout
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. content — happy
  16. bulb — for light
  17. pitch — completely
  18. pit — in a race
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. swing — music
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. content — the amount
  24. content — videos and posts

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