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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. field — for sport
  4. present — a gift
  5. present — the time now
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. pitch — completely
  10. kid — to tease
  11. field — farmland
  12. ground — crushed
  13. ground — a position
  14. ground — the earth
  15. cold — not warm
  16. tear — from crying
  17. cue — a hint
  18. present — there
  19. field — a subject
  20. cue — a signal
  21. cold — an illness
  22. tear — to rip
  23. kid — child
  24. cue — for pool

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