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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. spell — magic
  3. clip — to cut
  4. cell — a phone
  5. rest — a break
  6. spell — letters
  7. rest — what's left
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. clip — for paper
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. pitch — completely
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. spell — a short time
  16. board — to get on
  17. cold — an illness
  18. clip — a video
  19. cell — in biology
  20. board — a committee
  21. band — a ring
  22. band — a music group
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. rest — what's left

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