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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 116 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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. club — for golf
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. club — for dancing
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. rule — government
  8. cold — not warm
  9. content — happy
  10. rule — a law
  11. chip — for betting
  12. swing — in golf
  13. sharp — clever
  14. cold — an illness
  15. club — a group
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. swing — to play on
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. swing — music
  21. chip — to eat
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. pitch — completely
  24. content — the amount

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