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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: squash · wind · chest · object · pitch · hand · wake · straw

  1. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. object — to protest
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. wind — moving air
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. pitch — completely
  10. chest — a box
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. hand — help
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. squash — to crush
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. hand — in cards
  19. object — a thing
  20. chest — of your body
  21. squash — the sport
  22. wake — a trail
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. chest — of your body

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