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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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. land — ground
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. shower — to wash
  5. rule — government
  6. spell — magic
  7. shower — rain
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. file — a document
  10. spell — letters
  11. pitch — completely
  12. rule — a law
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. land — a country
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. file — a line of people
  19. file — a tool
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. spell — a short time
  24. land — to come down

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