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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: stick · wind · cap · racket · bat · field · cell · chair

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. field — farmland
  4. stick — to attach or keep to
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. cap — a lid
  7. field — for sport
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cap — a hat
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. chair — a leader
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. field — a subject
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. cell — a phone
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — moving air
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. cell — in biology
  22. cap — of ice
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. bat — the animal

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