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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. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. cold — not warm
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. prune — to trim
  9. scale — size or range
  10. cold — an illness
  11. net — after costs
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. prune — to trim
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. capital — money
  17. net — in sport
  18. pitch — completely
  19. capital — a city
  20. lie — to recline
  21. net — for catching
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. cold — the Cold War

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