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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: pitch · game · file · key · pop · cold · bowl · chair

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. This piece is in a major ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. key — in music
  3. game — a match
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. cold — not warm
  6. file — a tool
  7. cold — an illness
  8. file — a document
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. pop — to visit
  13. pop — music
  14. key — for a lock
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. game — wild animals
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. pop — soda
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. key — the most important part
  23. file — a line of people
  24. pitch — completely

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