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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: hand · field · pitch · cell · sharp · foot · net · scale

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. cell — a phone
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. pitch — completely
  6. net — after costs
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. net — in sport
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. field — a subject
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. scale — size or range
  14. foot — a measure
  15. hand — in cards
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. sharp — clever
  19. field — for sport
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. cell — in biology
  22. hand — help
  23. net — for catching
  24. scale — in music

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