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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. scale — in music
  5. ball — a dance
  6. ball — a great time
  7. shower — to wash
  8. pitch — completely
  9. fall — to drop
  10. clip — to cut
  11. ground — crushed
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. ground — the earth
  14. hand — in cards
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. clip — for paper
  18. fall — to drop
  19. ground — a position
  20. clip — a video
  21. shower — rain
  22. fall — the season
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. hand — help

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