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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: hand · field · pitch · staff · fan · rest · wound · key

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. key — for a lock
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. staff — employees
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. key — the most important part
  8. key — in music
  9. wound — an injury
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. hand — help
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. rest — what's left
  14. staff — employees
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. rest — what's left
  18. hand — in cards
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — for sport
  22. staff — a stick
  23. field — a subject
  24. pitch — completely

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