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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. clip — a video
  3. key — for a lock
  4. tube — a container
  5. bat — the animal
  6. key — the most important part
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. cold — an illness
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. pitch — completely
  11. tube — the underground
  12. charge — electricity
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — for paper
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. charge — a price
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. mine — for digging
  19. charge — in control
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. key — in music
  24. tube — in a tire

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