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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wake · mate · net · pitch · fall · pound · clip · bat

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. mate — a friend
  3. bat — the animal
  4. net — after costs
  5. net — for catching
  6. pitch — completely
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — for paper
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. pound — a weight
  11. mate — to breed
  12. net — in sport
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. fall — to drop
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. wake — a trail
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. fall — to drop
  21. fall — the season
  22. mate — a partner
  23. clip — a video
  24. wake — before a funeral

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