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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. wake — a trail
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. squash — the sport
  6. kid — child
  7. chair — a leader
  8. kid — to tease
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. clip — to cut
  12. cue — a hint
  13. clip — a video
  14. squash — to crush
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. cue — for pool
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. pitch — completely
  19. cue — a signal
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. content — happy
  22. clip — for paper
  23. content — the amount
  24. pitch — a sports field

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