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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. race — the arms race
  6. date — the fruit
  7. race — humankind
  8. hand — help
  9. race — a contest
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — moving air
  13. pitch — completely
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. bat — the animal
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. branch — a division
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. hand — in cards
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — in an idiom

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