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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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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 · swing · wind · prune · straw · chair · content · field

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. field — for sport
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. content — happy
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. prune — to trim
  13. swing — to play on
  14. swing — in golf
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. field — a subject
  17. content — the amount
  18. wind — moving air
  19. chair — a leader
  20. field — farmland
  21. prune — to trim
  22. swing — music
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. wind — moving air

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