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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: stock · swing · mine · pitch · march · field · straw · band

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — farmland
  7. pitch — completely
  8. swing — to play on
  9. band — a music group
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. mine — for digging
  12. march — the month
  13. swing — music
  14. swing — in golf
  15. band — a ring
  16. stock — shares
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. stock — goods
  20. march — the month
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. field — a subject
  23. march — music
  24. straw — dry grass

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