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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: chest · pitch · root · wind · row · last · stand · clip

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. last — finally
  3. wind — moving air
  4. last — to go on
  5. clip — for paper
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. wind — moving air
  9. pitch — completely
  10. chest — a box
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. chest — of your body
  13. root — of a plant
  14. row — a line
  15. clip — a video
  16. last — final
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. root — of a word
  19. stand — to bear
  20. row — to paddle
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. chest — of your body
  23. root — the cause
  24. stand — on your feet

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