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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: hand · bass · land · pitch · patient · straw · chest · trunk

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. chest — of your body
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. bass — the fish
  9. land — a country
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. pitch — completely
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. hand — help
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. chest — a box
  17. land — ground
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. hand — in cards
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. land — to come down
  24. chest — of your body

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