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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. content — happy
  3. court — for sport
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. race — humankind
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. race — the arms race
  9. clip — a video
  10. stem — to come from
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. scale — size or range
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. pitch — completely
  16. clip — to cut
  17. content — the amount
  18. court — of a king
  19. clip — for paper
  20. race — a contest
  21. scale — in music
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. court — of law

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