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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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. bark — to shout
  4. rest — what's left
  5. clip — to cut
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. bat — the animal
  9. perch — the fish
  10. rest — what's left
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. game — a match
  13. key — for a lock
  14. key — the most important part
  15. key — in music
  16. pitch — completely
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. clip — for paper
  22. rest — a break
  23. game — wild animals
  24. clip — a video

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