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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. When will it ________________ you to start?
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  22. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. suit — to fit
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. fine — all right
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. clip — for paper
  8. field — farmland
  9. drill — a practice
  10. fine — high quality
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. net — for catching
  13. field — a subject
  14. net — in sport
  15. clip — to cut
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. drill — the tool
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. field — for sport
  20. net — after costs
  21. suit — clothes
  22. suit — in cards
  23. clip — a video
  24. drill — army training

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