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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 · cell · bound · stem · race · kid · ball · content

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — the amount
  3. ball — a dance
  4. kid — to tease
  5. kid — child
  6. race — the arms race
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. bound — obliged
  11. cell — in biology
  12. ball — a great time
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. pitch — completely
  15. cell — a phone
  16. bound — tied together
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. race — humankind
  20. bound — certain
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. race — a contest
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. stem — to come from

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