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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. mark — a trace
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. date — the fruit
  7. mark — a grade
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. season — in sport
  10. field — for sport
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. field — farmland
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. season — of the year
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — a coil
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. branch — a division
  21. bat — the animal
  22. spring — of water
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. field — a subject

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