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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: bass · hand · chest · tear · net · pitch · wax · scale

  1. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. bass — low music
  4. net — after costs
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. scale — in music
  9. tear — from crying
  10. pitch — completely
  11. hand — help
  12. net — for catching
  13. net — in sport
  14. scale — size or range
  15. tear — to rip
  16. chest — a box
  17. chest — of your body
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. bass — the fish
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. wax — to grow
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. hand — in cards
  24. tear — from crying

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