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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Where did you ________________ them?
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. He refilled his coffee ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. season — of the year
  5. cold — not warm
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. shower — rain
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. ground — the earth
  12. ground — a position
  13. clip — for paper
  14. pitch — completely
  15. ground — crushed
  16. mug — to rob
  17. mine — for digging
  18. shower — to wash
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. season — in sport
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — to cut
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. mug — a cup

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