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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 116 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 room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. pit — in a race
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bark — to shout
  5. mine — for digging
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. bound — tied together
  8. content — the amount
  9. clip — a video
  10. bound — certain
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. clip — for paper
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. pit — a hole
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. content — happy
  21. bound — obliged
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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