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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 120 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: drill · ground · pitch · field · last · capital

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. pitch — completely
  4. capital — a city
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. ground — crushed
  7. last — finally
  8. field — farmland
  9. ground — the earth
  10. last — final
  11. drill — army training
  12. capital — money
  13. field — a subject
  14. drill — the tool
  15. last — to go on
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. ground — a position
  18. drill — a practice

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