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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: ground · hand · chair · capital · sharp · straw · pitch · pitcher

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. capital — money
  3. ground — a position
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. hand — help
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. ground — crushed
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. sharp — clever
  15. pitch — completely
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. ground — the earth
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. capital — a city
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. hand — in cards
  24. chair — a leader

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