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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: swing · cell · field · bat · rest · deal

  1. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  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. deal — to handle
  2. rest — a break
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. field — for sport
  6. swing — in golf
  7. field — farmland
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. rest — what's left
  11. field — a subject
  12. cell — a phone
  13. swing — music
  14. rest — what's left
  15. swing — to play on
  16. cell — in biology
  17. bat — the animal
  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