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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. bat — the animal
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. field — a subject
  5. club — a group
  6. fall — to drop
  7. clip — to cut
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. club — for dancing
  12. fall — to drop
  13. field — farmland
  14. pit — a hole
  15. clip — for paper
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. field — for sport
  18. clip — a video
  19. club — for golf
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. lie — to recline
  22. pit — in a race
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. fall — the season

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