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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 · field · charge · firm · game · clip · club · pop

  1. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. firm — a company
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — a subject
  7. clip — a video
  8. game — a match
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. clip — for paper
  11. firm — decided
  12. pop — to visit
  13. game — wild animals
  14. club — for golf
  15. charge — electricity
  16. pop — music
  17. clip — to cut
  18. charge — in control
  19. firm — steady
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. club — a group
  22. club — for dancing
  23. bat — the animal
  24. pop — soda

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