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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: bay · pitch · track · wake · content · clip · drill · race

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. My mare is ________________ in color.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  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. content — happy
  2. track — to keep track
  3. race — the arms race
  4. bay — a horse colour
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. clip — a video
  7. race — a contest
  8. clip — to cut
  9. race — humankind
  10. drill — army training
  11. bay — to keep at bay
  12. track — a path
  13. track — a song
  14. wake — a trail
  15. pitch — completely
  16. bay — a part of the sea
  17. content — the amount
  18. clip — for paper
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. drill — the tool
  22. drill — a practice
  23. wake — before a funeral
  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