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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. present — the time now
  7. root — the cause
  8. kick — in football
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. present — there
  11. game — a match
  12. root — of a plant
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. wind — moving air
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. pitch — completely
  17. wake — a trail
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. root — of a word
  20. cell — in biology
  21. cell — a phone
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. game — wild animals

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