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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 · stock · chest · date · clip · track · bat · ground

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. chest — of your body
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. track — a song
  5. ground — a position
  6. clip — to cut
  7. date — the fruit
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. ground — crushed
  11. track — a path
  12. stock — goods
  13. pitch — completely
  14. clip — a video
  15. stock — shares
  16. clip — for paper
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bat — the animal
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. ground — the earth
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. track — to keep track

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