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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. dip — to sink
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. field — farmland
  8. shower — to wash
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. pitch — completely
  11. clip — a video
  12. chair — a leader
  13. shower — rain
  14. clip — to cut
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. field — for sport
  18. clip — for paper
  19. race — a contest
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. field — a subject
  22. race — the arms race
  23. race — humankind
  24. pitch — a sports field

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