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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. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. wind — moving air
  5. cold — an illness
  6. board — to get on
  7. court — of law
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. wind — moving air
  10. board — a committee
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. present — a gift
  13. present — the time now
  14. content — happy
  15. court — for sport
  16. content — the amount
  17. wound — an injury
  18. present — there
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. court — of a king
  21. cold — not warm
  22. wound — an injury
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. cold — the Cold War

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