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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. rash — hasty
  3. bat — the animal
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. spell — a short time
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. court — for sport
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. rush — hurry
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. spell — letters
  13. court — of law
  14. tube — the underground
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. pitch — completely
  18. court — of a king
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. spell — magic
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. tube — a container
  24. rash — a series

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