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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: net · cold · rash · field · bowl · game · bat · current

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. current — electric
  4. net — after costs
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. field — for sport
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. game — a match
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. net — in sport
  12. game — wild animals
  13. rash — hasty
  14. bat — the animal
  15. current — happening now
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — a subject
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. net — for catching
  23. current — of water
  24. rash — a series

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