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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. mate — a partner
  4. mate — a friend
  5. press — a publisher
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. wound — an injury
  8. pitch — completely
  9. wind — moving air
  10. cold — an illness
  11. prune — to trim
  12. press — to push
  13. wind — moving air
  14. bass — low music
  15. mate — to breed
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. wound — an injury
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. prune — to trim
  20. bass — the fish
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. cold — not warm
  23. press — newspapers
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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