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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 players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. stem — to come from
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. prune — to trim
  5. key — in music
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. prune — to trim
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. key — for a lock
  10. ground — the earth
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. ground — a position
  16. wind — moving air
  17. cold — an illness
  18. pitch — completely
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. key — the most important part
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. ground — crushed
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wind — moving air

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