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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: tear · net · wound · patient · pitch · band · bat · date

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. pitch — completely
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. net — for catching
  7. date — the fruit
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. tear — from crying
  10. band — a ring
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. bat — the animal
  13. wound — an injury
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. wound — an injury
  19. band — a music group
  20. tear — to rip
  21. tear — from crying
  22. net — in sport
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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