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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 room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. pop — to visit
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. pop — music
  6. cap — a lid
  7. rush — hurry
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. cap — of ice
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. clip — a video
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cap — a hat
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. clip — for paper
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. pop — soda
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. cold — an illness
  23. clip — to cut
  24. rush — to hurry

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