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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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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: temple · rock · land · tear · pitch · bass · straw · wound

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. When was this ________________ built?
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. land — to come down
  3. land — ground
  4. tear — from crying
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. wound — an injury
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. rock — music
  12. bass — the fish
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. wound — an injury
  15. tear — from crying
  16. bass — low music
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. rock — a stone
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. land — a country
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. tear — to rip
  24. pitch — completely

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