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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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  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. pitch — a sports field
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pitch — completely
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. branch — a division
  7. swing — in golf
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. capital — money
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. field — for sport
  14. capital — a city
  15. swing — music
  16. swing — to play on
  17. field — a subject
  18. net — for catching
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. net — in sport
  21. field — farmland
  22. net — after costs
  23. branch — of a tree
  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