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

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. pitch — completely
  3. mark — a trace
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. snap — to click
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. cold — an illness
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. cold — not warm
  11. march — the month
  12. march — the month
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. spring — a coil
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. spring — the season
  20. clip — a video
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. mark — a grade
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. spring — of water

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