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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. 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. pit — a fruit stone
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. pit — in a race
  6. swing — in golf
  7. bass — low music
  8. bass — the fish
  9. swing — to play on
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. pitch — completely
  15. tear — to rip
  16. pit — a hole
  17. wind — moving air
  18. tear — from crying
  19. swing — music
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. chest — a box
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. tear — from crying
  24. 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