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

Word bank: staff · chest · race · straw · pitch · bat

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. race — humankind
  3. staff — a stick
  4. chest — a box
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bat — the animal
  7. race — a contest
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. race — the arms race
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. chest — of your body
  13. staff — employees
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. pitch — completely
  17. staff — employees
  18. pitch — a sports field

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