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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: pitch · race · charge · band · bat · bass · file · perch

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. charge — in control
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. charge — a price
  5. race — a contest
  6. bass — the fish
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. file — a document
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. race — humankind
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. band — a ring
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. file — a tool
  17. pitch — completely
  18. band — a music group
  19. charge — electricity
  20. file — a line of people
  21. perch — the fish
  22. race — the arms race
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. pitch — a sports field

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