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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. field — a subject
  4. roll — a cake
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. chair — a leader
  7. roll — a list
  8. tear — to rip
  9. wake — a trail
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. field — for sport
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. field — farmland
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. cell — a phone
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. tear — from crying
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cell — in biology
  24. pitch — completely

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