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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 president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. field — farmland
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. pitch — completely
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. content — the amount
  10. rash — hasty
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. squash — the sport
  13. content — happy
  14. field — for sport
  15. row — to paddle
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. bass — low music
  20. row — a line
  21. rash — a series
  22. bass — the fish
  23. field — a subject
  24. row — a quarrel

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