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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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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: pitch · bat · field · snap · tube · last · patient · cap

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cap — of ice
  4. tube — the underground
  5. cap — a lid
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. last — final
  10. field — for sport
  11. tube — a container
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bat — the animal
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. field — farmland
  17. last — to go on
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. field — a subject
  20. snap — to click
  21. pitch — completely
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. last — finally
  24. tube — in a tire

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