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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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · present · land · plane · race · clip · straw · court

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. race — humankind
  4. present — the time now
  5. race — a contest
  6. land — a country
  7. pitch — completely
  8. clip — for paper
  9. court — for sport
  10. race — the arms race
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. present — a gift
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. land — ground
  15. court — of law
  16. present — there
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — a video
  23. court — of a king
  24. plane — a tool

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