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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: patient · present · clip · wind · field · bass · content · pitch

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. bass — the fish
  3. present — a gift
  4. field — a subject
  5. bass — low music
  6. wind — moving air
  7. field — for sport
  8. wind — moving air
  9. content — happy
  10. content — the amount
  11. present — the time now
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. clip — for paper
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. clip — to cut
  19. field — farmland
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. pitch — completely
  22. clip — a video
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. wind — to turn a key

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