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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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. march — the month
  6. march — the month
  7. march — music
  8. squash — the sport
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. tube — a container
  12. squash — to crush
  13. tube — the underground
  14. game — wild animals
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. stem — to come from
  17. game — a match
  18. mark — a grade
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. pitch — completely
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. mark — a trace

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