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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. content — the amount
  4. pitch — completely
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cap — of ice
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. land — ground
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. race — humankind
  11. kid — to tease
  12. cap — a lid
  13. date — the fruit
  14. land — a country
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. kid — child
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. race — the arms race
  20. cap — a hat
  21. content — happy
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. race — a contest
  24. land — to come down

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