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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. file — a line of people
  4. bat — the animal
  5. season — of the year
  6. mine — for digging
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. tear — to rip
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. file — a document
  15. tear — from crying
  16. file — a tool
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. pitch — completely
  22. tear — from crying
  23. perch — the fish
  24. season — in sport

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