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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: drill · file · bark · field · cabinet · bat · band · pitch

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. field — farmland
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. field — for sport
  5. pitch — completely
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. field — a subject
  9. band — a music group
  10. drill — army training
  11. file — a tool
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. bark — to shout
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. band — a ring
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. drill — a practice
  18. file — a document
  19. bat — the animal
  20. file — a line of people
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. drill — the tool
  24. cabinet — ministers

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