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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 116 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 old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. staff — employees
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. bear — the animal
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. race — humankind
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. wake — a trail
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. race — the arms race
  14. cell — a phone
  15. pitch — completely
  16. clip — to cut
  17. bear — the animal
  18. clip — for paper
  19. race — a contest
  20. staff — employees
  21. clip — a video
  22. cell — in biology
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. perch — the fish

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