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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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Word bank
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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: cold · pitcher · wave · lean · hand · field

  1. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — a sudden rise
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. cold — not warm
  4. hand — help
  5. lean — to bend
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. field — a subject
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. lean — thin
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cold — an illness
  15. field — farmland
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. hand — in cards
  18. field — for sport

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