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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. key — the most important part
  3. mine — for digging
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. wound — an injury
  8. pitch — completely
  9. wound — an injury
  10. key — in music
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. clip — a video
  13. content — the amount
  14. chest — of your body
  15. clip — to cut
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. chest — of your body
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. key — for a lock
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. content — happy
  23. clip — for paper
  24. chest — a box

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