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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 120 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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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: straw · race · bat · temple · wound · field · racket · cap

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. field — farmland
  4. race — the arms race
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. race — humankind
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. wound — an injury
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. field — for sport
  14. cap — a hat
  15. cap — of ice
  16. field — a subject
  17. wound — an injury
  18. bat — the animal
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. cap — a lid
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. race — a contest

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