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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. last — finally
  4. bat — the animal
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. present — a gift
  7. net — in sport
  8. field — for sport
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. net — for catching
  11. game — a match
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. present — there
  14. game — wild animals
  15. last — to go on
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. net — after costs
  18. prune — to trim
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. field — farmland
  21. pitch — completely
  22. last — final
  23. prune — to trim
  24. present — the time now

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