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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: race · wind · straw · pitch · branch · march · snap · board

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. march — the month
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. board — to get on
  7. wind — moving air
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. pitch — completely
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. wind — moving air
  13. march — the month
  14. board — a committee
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. race — humankind
  17. race — the arms race
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. race — a contest
  22. branch — a division
  23. march — music
  24. branch — of a bank

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