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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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. clip — for paper
  3. object — to protest
  4. pitch — completely
  5. cell — in biology
  6. clip — a video
  7. object — a thing
  8. clip — to cut
  9. cell — a phone
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. game — wild animals
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. drill — a practice
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. object — an aim
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. bat — the animal
  21. game — a match
  22. drill — army training
  23. drill — the tool
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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