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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. pitch — completely
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. cold — an illness
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. ground — a position
  9. tear — from crying
  10. mine — for digging
  11. tear — to rip
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. bat — the animal
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. tear — from crying
  22. ground — the earth
  23. vault — an arched ceiling
  24. vault — a safe

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