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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
468
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: perch · pitch · march · bat · wound · ball · bass · kick

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. perch — the fish
  3. ball — a great time
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. march — music
  6. wound — an injury
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. ball — a dance
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. march — the month
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bass — low music
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. pitch — completely
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. wound — an injury
  22. bass — the fish
  23. kick — in football
  24. perch — for a bird

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