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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. net — in sport
  4. field — a subject
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. field — for sport
  11. bat — the animal
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. branch — a division
  14. net — after costs
  15. net — for catching
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. snap — to click
  18. field — farmland

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