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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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. shower — to wash
  3. scale — size or range
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. pitch — completely
  7. rash — a series
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. face — to point toward
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. net — in sport
  13. stem — to come from
  14. cold — an illness
  15. net — after costs
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. scale — in music
  20. face — to confront
  21. net — for catching
  22. shower — rain
  23. face — part of the head
  24. rash — hasty

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