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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: arm · file · wax · present · chest · field · ground · pitch

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. ground — a position
  3. chest — of your body
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. field — a subject
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. chest — of your body
  8. ground — crushed
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. file — a tool
  11. present — the time now
  12. ground — the earth
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. chest — a box
  15. field — for sport
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. file — a document
  18. file — a line of people
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. field — farmland
  22. wax — to grow
  23. pitch — completely
  24. present — there

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