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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. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. hand — in cards
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. chest — of your body
  6. land — ground
  7. land — a country
  8. bulb — for light
  9. chest — a box
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. stem — to come from
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. mate — to breed
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. mate — a partner
  19. hand — help
  20. bulb — for light
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. land — to come down
  23. mate — a friend
  24. chest — of your body

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