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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. tear — to rip
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. field — for sport
  9. wind — moving air
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. tear — from crying
  13. hand — in cards
  14. tear — from crying
  15. field — a subject
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. wind — moving air
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. pitch — completely
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. hand — help
  23. field — farmland
  24. racket — for tennis

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