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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: toast · chip · cell · date · stand · field · game · bat

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. bat — the animal
  3. date — the fruit
  4. game — a match
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. stand — to bear
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. field — farmland
  9. chip — for betting
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. cell — a phone
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. field — for sport
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. game — wild animals
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. cell — in biology
  22. field — a subject
  23. toast — bread
  24. stand — for spectators

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