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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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. clip — a video
  5. net — in sport
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. squash — the sport
  9. clip — to cut
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. track — a song
  12. pitch — completely
  13. squash — to crush
  14. chip — to eat
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. net — after costs
  17. clip — for paper
  18. chip — for betting
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. net — for catching
  21. track — a path
  22. fork — in a road
  23. cold — not warm
  24. track — to keep track

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