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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: game · wave · band · pitcher · pitch · squash · cold · field

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. game — a match
  3. band — a ring
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. field — farmland
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. wave — of the sea
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. game — wild animals
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. cold — not warm
  16. pitch — completely
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. squash — the sport
  19. field — for sport
  20. band — a music group
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. cold — an illness
  23. squash — to crush
  24. squash — the vegetable

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