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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: clip · pass · mine · bat · pitch · rule · object · shower

  1. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. shower — to wash
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. bat — the animal
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. clip — to cut
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. object — to protest
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. clip — for paper
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. rule — government
  16. object — a thing
  17. rule — a law
  18. pass — a permit
  19. mine — for digging
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. clip — a video
  22. shower — rain
  23. pitch — completely
  24. pass — to spend time

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