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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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. track — a song
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. court — for sport
  6. track — a path
  7. track — to keep track
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. court — of a king
  10. pitch — completely
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. chest — a box
  13. capital — money
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. chest — of your body
  16. court — of law
  17. capital — a city
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. scale — in music
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. scale — size or range
  23. chest — of your body
  24. hide — to keep secret

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