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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: pit · rule · bat · date · shower · net · wind · field

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. shower — to wash
  3. field — for sport
  4. rule — a law
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. field — farmland
  10. net — in sport
  11. net — after costs
  12. bat — the animal
  13. wind — moving air
  14. net — for catching
  15. pit — a hole
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. rule — government
  18. date — the fruit
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. wind — moving air
  21. pit — in a race
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. rule — to rule out

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