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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: press · chair · pitch · stock · roll · tear · bank · kid

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. bank — for money
  5. kid — to tease
  6. press — newspapers
  7. press — a publisher
  8. stock — shares
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. roll — a cake
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. tear — to rip
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. tear — from crying
  15. chair — a leader
  16. stock — goods
  17. kid — child
  18. bank — for money
  19. roll — a list
  20. bank — of a river
  21. pitch — completely
  22. press — to push
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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