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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bat · cell · firm · kid · field · wave

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. 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. kid — child
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. field — a subject
  4. firm — steady
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. cell — in biology
  7. firm — a company
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. field — farmland
  11. firm — decided
  12. field — for sport
  13. cell — a phone
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. kid — to tease
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. 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