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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: stem · pitch · trunk · shower · band · clip · chest · roll

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  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. pitch — completely
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. band — a ring
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. chest — of your body
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. band — a music group
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. stem — to come from
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. shower — to wash
  16. clip — to cut
  17. roll — a cake
  18. clip — a video
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. chest — a box
  21. roll — a list
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  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