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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: bat · field · cell · cold · mark · bowl · stick · track

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. bat — the animal
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. cold — an illness
  11. field — for sport
  12. field — a subject
  13. track — to keep track
  14. cell — a phone
  15. mark — a trace
  16. field — farmland
  17. mark — a grade
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. cell — in biology
  21. track — a path
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. mark — to pay attention
  24. track — a song

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