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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 116 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: cold · pound · content · land · pitch · field · coach · wake

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. land — ground
  3. field — for sport
  4. content — happy
  5. pound — a weight
  6. field — farmland
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. land — to come down
  10. field — a subject
  11. land — a country
  12. content — the amount
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. pitch — completely
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. cold — an illness
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. wake — a trail
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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