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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 116 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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. clip — to cut
  4. rash — a series
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. pitch — completely
  10. degree — temperature
  11. row — to paddle
  12. degree — an amount
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. clip — a video
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. degree — from a university
  17. rash — hasty
  18. bat — the animal
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. row — a line
  21. kick — in football
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. clip — for paper

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