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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 120 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 · land · mine · wind · bass · clip · bark · temple

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. bass — low music
  3. wind — moving air
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. land — ground
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. clip — a video
  9. pitch — completely
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. land — a country
  12. land — to come down
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. clip — to cut
  15. wind — moving air
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. bass — the fish
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. mine — for digging
  21. clip — for paper
  22. bark — to shout
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. mine — belonging to me

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