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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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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: staff · chest · race · straw · pitch · bat · mine · bound

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. staff — a stick
  3. race — the arms race
  4. mine — for digging
  5. chest — of your body
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. pitch — completely
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. bound — obliged
  10. race — humankind
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. chest — of your body
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. staff — employees
  15. bound — certain
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. bat — the animal
  18. race — a contest
  19. chest — a box
  20. bound — tied together
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. staff — employees
  24. bat — for baseball

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