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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 tickets are free of ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. swing — in golf
  4. ground — crushed
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. pitch — completely
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. swing — music
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. swing — to play on
  11. shower — to wash
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. clip — for paper
  14. charge — in control
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. cold — an illness
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. shower — rain
  19. charge — electricity
  20. ground — a position
  21. clip — a video
  22. cold — not warm
  23. ground — the earth
  24. clip — to cut

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