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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: field · bat · racket · shower · tube · charge · cold · lean

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The tickets are free of ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. tube — the underground
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. field — farmland
  5. cold — not warm
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. charge — a price
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. shower — rain
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. charge — in control
  15. shower — to wash
  16. charge — electricity
  17. cold — an illness
  18. lean — thin
  19. bat — the animal
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. field — for sport
  22. field — a subject
  23. tube — a container
  24. lean — to bend

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