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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. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. object — a thing
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mate — a friend
  5. clip — to cut
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. clip — a video
  8. object — an aim
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. race — a contest
  11. chair — a leader
  12. cold — an illness
  13. object — to protest
  14. mate — a partner
  15. race — humankind
  16. mate — to breed
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. face — to point toward
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. pitch — completely
  21. race — the arms race
  22. face — part of the head
  23. clip — for paper
  24. face — to confront

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