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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 116 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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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. sharp — exactly
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. kick — in football
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. spring — a coil
  8. field — a subject
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. field — farmland
  14. root — the cause
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. spring — of water
  19. sharp — clever
  20. field — for sport
  21. spring — the season
  22. root — of a plant
  23. root — of a word
  24. coach — a trainer

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