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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: pitch · march · hand · fan · straw · club · branch · content

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. march — the month
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. hand — help
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. branch — a division
  8. march — music
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. content — the amount
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. club — for golf
  15. club — a group
  16. pitch — completely
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. march — the month
  19. content — happy
  20. club — for dancing
  21. hand — in cards
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. straw — a straw man

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