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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: wave · straw · pitch · branch · firm · ground · cell · clip

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. firm — decided
  4. firm — steady
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. pitch — completely
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. clip — a video
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. ground — the earth
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. branch — a division
  18. firm — a company
  19. clip — to cut
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. ground — a position
  22. ground — crushed
  23. cell — in biology
  24. clip — for paper

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