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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. present — there
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. race — humankind
  5. present — the time now
  6. bat — the animal
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. race — a contest
  9. last — finally
  10. last — to go on
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. race — the arms race
  13. chest — a box
  14. bound — tied together
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bound — certain
  17. chest — of your body
  18. row — a line
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. row — to paddle
  22. pitch — completely
  23. bound — obliged
  24. present — a gift

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