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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 124 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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. pound — a weight
  3. wound — an injury
  4. spring — a coil
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. clip — to cut
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. chest — of your body
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. chest — a box
  13. spring — the season
  14. squash — to crush
  15. spring — of water
  16. clip — for paper
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. pitch — completely
  19. clip — a video
  20. wound — an injury
  21. squash — the sport
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. squash — the vegetable

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