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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 120 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: kid · saw · clip · root · pitch · squash · mark · cold

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. saw — the tool
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. cold — an illness
  8. clip — to cut
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. root — the cause
  12. cold — not warm
  13. squash — to crush
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. clip — a video
  16. root — of a plant
  17. squash — the sport
  18. root — of a word
  19. kid — to tease
  20. kid — child
  21. mark — a trace
  22. saw — the tool
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. mark — a grade

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