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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. net — after costs
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. wound — an injury
  5. chest — a box
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. land — a country
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. bear — the animal
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. wound — an injury
  13. bear — the animal
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. land — to come down
  16. chest — of your body
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. chest — of your body
  19. net — in sport
  20. land — ground
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. pitch — completely
  23. net — for catching
  24. straw — a straw man

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