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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 120 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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. sharp — clever
  4. bat — the animal
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. land — ground
  10. face — to confront
  11. face — to point toward
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. field — a subject
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. squash — the sport
  17. land — a country
  18. land — to come down
  19. squash — to crush
  20. field — for sport
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. face — part of the head
  23. field — farmland
  24. pitch — completely

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