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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: field · bat · tube · racket · bass · foot · root · cold

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. root — of a word
  3. field — farmland
  4. tube — the underground
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. foot — a measure
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. foot — part of the body
  10. root — of a plant
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bass — the fish
  13. cold — an illness
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. field — for sport
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. tube — a container
  19. root — the cause
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. field — a subject
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. bass — low music

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