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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 120 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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. stem — to come from
  4. pitch — completely
  5. tube — the underground
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. tube — a container
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. clip — a video
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. bark — to shout
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. clip — for paper
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. clip — to cut
  23. mine — for digging
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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