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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: band · tear · wound · chest · content · cold · stand · pitch

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. pitch — completely
  8. content — happy
  9. chest — of your body
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — to rip
  12. content — the amount
  13. band — a ring
  14. wound — an injury
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. chest — a box
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. cold — an illness
  19. tear — from crying
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. wound — an injury
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. stand — to bear
  24. cold — not warm

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