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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: pitch · wound · land · drill · shower · bass · chest · sharp

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. bass — the fish
  4. chest — of your body
  5. drill — the tool
  6. land — a country
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bass — low music
  9. drill — army training
  10. shower — to wash
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. shower — rain
  15. land — to come down
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. land — ground
  18. chest — a box
  19. drill — a practice
  20. pitch — completely
  21. chest — of your body
  22. wound — an injury
  23. sharp — clever
  24. bass — the instrument

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