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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. spell — magic
  3. land — ground
  4. field — a subject
  5. mine — for digging
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. land — to come down
  9. land — a country
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pitch — completely
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. cold — not warm
  16. firm — a company
  17. firm — steady
  18. field — farmland
  19. spell — a short time
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. firm — decided
  22. spell — letters
  23. field — for sport
  24. dip — to sink

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