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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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: date · face · ground · game · straw · content · pitch · clip

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. ground — the earth
  4. content — the amount
  5. date — the fruit
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. face — part of the head
  8. clip — for paper
  9. game — wild animals
  10. ground — a position
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. game — a match
  14. face — to point toward
  15. content — happy
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. clip — to cut
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. face — to confront
  21. pitch — completely
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. ground — crushed
  24. pitch — a sports field

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