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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 ball is in your ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  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. court — for sport
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. game — a match
  7. court — of law
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. stock — shares
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. court — of a king
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. stock — goods
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. saw — the tool
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. squash — to crush
  21. game — wild animals
  22. squash — the sport
  23. saw — the tool
  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