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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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. firm — decided
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. bat — the animal
  7. mine — for digging
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. hand — in cards
  13. prune — to trim
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. scale — size or range
  16. hand — help
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. prune — to trim
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. sharp — clever
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. firm — steady
  23. scale — in music
  24. pitch — completely

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