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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: field · kid · bound · clip · current · land · band · pitch

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. clip — a video
  4. bound — obliged
  5. land — to come down
  6. band — a music group
  7. field — farmland
  8. bound — certain
  9. land — ground
  10. current — electric
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. clip — for paper
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. land — a country
  15. current — of water
  16. kid — child
  17. bound — tied together
  18. kid — to tease
  19. current — happening now
  20. field — a subject
  21. clip — to cut
  22. field — for sport
  23. band — a ring
  24. band — a rubber band

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