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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. file — a line of people
  3. last — final
  4. file — a document
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. tear — to rip
  8. file — a tool
  9. stock — shares
  10. cap — a lid
  11. cap — a hat
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. cap — of ice
  14. last — to go on
  15. tear — from crying
  16. stock — goods
  17. tear — from crying
  18. last — finally
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. game — a match
  21. pitch — completely
  22. game — wild animals
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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