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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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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: pitch · drill · ground · row · clip · tear · press · fall

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. drill — a practice
  3. pitch — completely
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. fall — to drop
  6. clip — to cut
  7. tear — from crying
  8. press — a publisher
  9. clip — for paper
  10. ground — crushed
  11. drill — the tool
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. press — to push
  14. clip — a video
  15. ground — a position
  16. fall — the season
  17. tear — to rip
  18. row — a line
  19. press — newspapers
  20. row — to paddle
  21. ground — the earth
  22. drill — army training
  23. fall — to drop
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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