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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: bat · season · swing · row · track · wake · kick · ground

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. swing — music
  3. kick — in football
  4. track — a song
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. season — of the year
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. track — to keep track
  9. track — a path
  10. swing — to play on
  11. season — in sport
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. bat — the animal
  15. ground — crushed
  16. row — a line
  17. row — to paddle
  18. ground — a position
  19. swing — in golf
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. ground — the earth
  22. wake — a trail
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. wake — before a funeral

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