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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: racket · field · trunk · cabinet · bass · cold · ground · roll

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. cold — not warm
  3. roll — a cake
  4. bass — low music
  5. ground — the earth
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. ground — crushed
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. field — for sport
  10. field — a subject
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. roll — a list
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. field — farmland
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. ground — a position
  22. bass — the fish
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. cold — the Cold War

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