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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. land — a country
  3. shower — rain
  4. march — the month
  5. shower — to wash
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. march — the month
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. land — to come down
  10. sharp — clever
  11. pitch — completely
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. march — music
  15. land — ground
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — for baseball

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