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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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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: wake · clip · chest · band · tear · land · pitch · pop

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. chest — a box
  3. tear — from crying
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. pop — music
  6. land — ground
  7. band — a music group
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. chest — of your body
  11. band — a ring
  12. pop — soda
  13. clip — a video
  14. pop — to visit
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. chest — of your body
  17. wake — a trail
  18. land — to come down
  19. pitch — completely
  20. tear — from crying
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. clip — for paper
  23. tear — to rip
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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