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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: pitch · stick · rule · fork · sharp · track · cold · bass

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. rule — government
  6. rule — a law
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. pitch — completely
  10. sharp — clever
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. bass — the fish
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. bass — low music
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. fork — in a road
  20. track — a path
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. track — a song
  23. track — to keep track
  24. sharp — with an edge

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