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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. last — finally
  4. last — final
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. clip — a video
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. hand — help
  11. hand — in cards
  12. clip — for paper
  13. net — for catching
  14. clip — to cut
  15. squash — to crush
  16. last — to go on
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. stem — to come from
  19. squash — the sport
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. net — after costs
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. pitch — completely
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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