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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. pitch — completely
  4. capital — money
  5. present — a gift
  6. game — wild animals
  7. present — the time now
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. present — there
  10. cold — an illness
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. net — after costs
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. net — in sport
  15. capital — a city
  16. net — for catching
  17. cold — not warm
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. bark — to shout
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. kick — in football
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. game — a match

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