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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. season — in sport
  3. last — final
  4. rest — what's left
  5. last — finally
  6. chest — a box
  7. pitch — completely
  8. chest — of your body
  9. rest — what's left
  10. file — a document
  11. clip — to cut
  12. file — a line of people
  13. season — of the year
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. band — a music group
  16. clip — for paper
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. last — to go on
  19. rest — a break
  20. clip — a video
  21. chest — of your body
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. band — a ring
  24. file — a tool

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