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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. track — a song
  3. pitch — completely
  4. wind — moving air
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. pit — a hole
  8. capital — a city
  9. row — a line
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. track — to keep track
  14. capital — money
  15. row — to paddle
  16. snap — to click
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. kid — child
  21. pit — in a race
  22. kid — to tease
  23. wind — moving air
  24. track — a path

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