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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 · row · bark · bat · race · swing · band · bound

  1. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. race — a contest
  4. bark — to shout
  5. pitch — completely
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. row — a line
  8. swing — in golf
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. bound — tied together
  12. race — humankind
  13. band — a music group
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. swing — music
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. band — a ring
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. race — the arms race
  22. bound — obliged
  23. swing — to play on
  24. row — to paddle

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