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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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468
Word bank
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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pop — soda
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. chest — of your body
  10. pop — to visit
  11. chair — a leader
  12. dip — to sink
  13. chest — a box
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. pop — music
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. cold — not warm
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. perch — the fish
  22. wind — moving air
  23. pitch — completely
  24. wind — moving air

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