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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. bank — of a river
  3. snap — to click
  4. net — in sport
  5. net — after costs
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. row — a line
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. kid — to tease
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. kid — child
  13. file — a line of people
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. bank — for money
  16. net — for catching
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. row — to paddle
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. file — a document
  22. file — a tool
  23. pitch — completely
  24. bank — for money

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