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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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. chest — of your body
  3. content — the amount
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. bark — to shout
  7. tear — from crying
  8. chest — a box
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. content — happy
  11. tear — to rip
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. chest — of your body
  16. tear — from crying
  17. pitch — completely
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — the animal
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. foot — a measure

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