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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: field · wind · clip · wound · firm · branch · pitch · drill

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  9. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. firm — steady
  3. branch — a division
  4. field — for sport
  5. clip — a video
  6. drill — a practice
  7. wound — an injury
  8. firm — a company
  9. firm — decided
  10. pitch — completely
  11. field — a subject
  12. field — farmland
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. drill — army training
  19. drill — the tool
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wind — moving air
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. clip — for paper

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