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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. land — ground
  3. staff — employees
  4. staff — employees
  5. snap — to click
  6. perch — the fish
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. land — a country
  9. clip — for paper
  10. clip — a video
  11. last — finally
  12. staff — a stick
  13. last — final
  14. pitch — completely
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. land — to come down
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. drill — the tool
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. drill — a practice
  22. clip — to cut
  23. last — to go on
  24. drill — army training

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