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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: band · chest · fall · field · pitch · hand · race · scale

  1. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  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. scale — for weighing
  2. field — for sport
  3. hand — help
  4. band — a ring
  5. chest — of your body
  6. race — humankind
  7. fall — to drop
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. race — a contest
  11. band — a music group
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. field — a subject
  14. chest — a box
  15. field — farmland
  16. fall — the season
  17. hand — in cards
  18. pitch — completely
  19. race — the arms race
  20. fall — to drop
  21. scale — size or range
  22. chest — of your body
  23. scale — in music
  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