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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 soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. field — farmland
  3. swing — music
  4. drill — the tool
  5. shower — to wash
  6. bat — the animal
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. swing — in golf
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. wake — a trail
  16. shower — rain
  17. mine — for digging
  18. drill — a practice
  19. field — a subject
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. swing — to play on
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. field — for sport
  24. bat — for baseball

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