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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. pitch — completely
  3. chest — of your body
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. stock — shares
  6. ground — a position
  7. wind — moving air
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. chest — a box
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. sharp — clever
  12. ground — the earth
  13. ground — crushed
  14. perch — the fish
  15. wind — moving air
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. stock — goods
  19. chest — of your body
  20. shower — rain
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. shower — to wash
  24. sharp — exactly

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