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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: chair · wind · content · net · pitch · stand · cold · track

  1. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — on your feet
  2. net — after costs
  3. pitch — completely
  4. content — the amount
  5. content — happy
  6. track — to keep track
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. stand — to bear
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. wind — moving air
  11. net — in sport
  12. cold — not warm
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. chair — a leader
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. net — for catching
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. track — a song
  19. track — a path
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. cold — an illness
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. wind — moving air
  24. chair — to sit on

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