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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. He is an ace ________________.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. current — happening now
  4. pitch — completely
  5. current — electric
  6. cold — an illness
  7. spring — the season
  8. clip — to cut
  9. tear — to rip
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. tear — from crying
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. cold — not warm
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. spring — of water
  17. clip — a video
  18. clip — for paper
  19. tear — from crying
  20. lean — to bend
  21. lean — thin
  22. current — of water
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. spring — a coil

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