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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. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. root — the cause
  2. squash — to crush
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. wound — an injury
  5. pitch — completely
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. bat — the animal
  9. saw — the tool
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. root — of a word
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. capital — a city
  14. saw — the tool
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. pound — a weight
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. squash — the sport
  22. capital — money
  23. root — of a plant
  24. wound — an injury

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