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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. land — to come down
  3. bark — to shout
  4. land — ground
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. saw — the tool
  7. mug — a face
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. mug — to rob
  13. mug — a cup
  14. pound — a weight
  15. bat — the animal
  16. pitch — completely
  17. saw — the tool
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. land — a country

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