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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 116 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: bat · saw · deal · last · pitch · cell · season · field

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — finally
  3. saw — the tool
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. season — of the year
  6. pitch — completely
  7. field — farmland
  8. last — to go on
  9. field — for sport
  10. cell — a phone
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. field — a subject
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. season — in sport
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. cell — in biology
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. saw — the tool
  24. deal — to handle

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