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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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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: face · bat · ground · straw · pitch · band · chest · chip

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. band — a music group
  4. chip — to eat
  5. chest — of your body
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. ground — the earth
  9. ground — crushed
  10. face — to confront
  11. chip — for betting
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. pitch — completely
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. band — a ring
  16. ground — a position
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. face — to point toward
  20. chest — a box
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. face — part of the head
  23. bat — the animal
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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