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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. field — farmland
  4. land — to come down
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. pitch — completely
  7. chip — for betting
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. land — a country
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. chip — to eat
  14. net — after costs
  15. shower — to wash
  16. capital — a city
  17. field — a subject
  18. capital — money
  19. field — for sport
  20. land — ground
  21. net — in sport
  22. perch — the fish
  23. net — for catching
  24. pitch — a sports field

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