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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: land · chest · pitch · wax · race · hand · branch · stand

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. pitch — completely
  3. land — to come down
  4. stand — for spectators
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. chest — of your body
  7. wax — to grow
  8. chest — of your body
  9. race — the arms race
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. land — ground
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. hand — in cards
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. stand — to bear
  18. race — a contest
  19. race — humankind
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. branch — a division
  23. land — a country
  24. chest — a box

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