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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 120 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: land · chest · kid · perch · present · band · pitch · lash

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. pitch — completely
  3. land — to come down
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. land — a country
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. present — the time now
  9. chest — of your body
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. chest — a box
  12. chest — of your body
  13. band — a music group
  14. present — a gift
  15. present — there
  16. band — a ring
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. perch — the fish
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — child
  24. kid — to tease

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