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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 124 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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. file — a document
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. field — farmland
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. net — for catching
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. pitch — completely
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. file — a tool
  12. file — a line of people
  13. cold — not warm
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. net — in sport
  16. pass — a permit
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. branch — a division
  19. cold — an illness
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. field — for sport
  22. net — after costs
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. field — a subject

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