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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 players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. When was this ________________ built?
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. clip — for paper
  3. root — of a word
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. pitch — completely
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. cold — an illness
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. capital — a city
  14. band — a music group
  15. capital — money
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. cold — not warm
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. clip — to cut
  20. band — a ring
  21. root — of a plant
  22. wake — a trail
  23. clip — a video
  24. root — the cause

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