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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 120 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: race · pitch · cold · band · hand · pop · bowl · mark

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. hand — help
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pitch — completely
  8. band — a ring
  9. race — a contest
  10. pop — to visit
  11. race — the arms race
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. band — a music group
  14. pop — music
  15. cold — an illness
  16. hand — in cards
  17. mark — a grade
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. race — humankind
  22. mark — a trace
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. band — a rubber band

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