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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: content · craft · press · shower · bass · net · bat · field

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. net — in sport
  3. craft — boats
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. press — to push
  6. bass — the fish
  7. bass — low music
  8. net — for catching
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. field — a subject
  11. field — for sport
  12. press — newspapers
  13. shower — to wash
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. content — the amount
  17. net — after costs
  18. bat — the animal
  19. craft — a skill
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. press — a publisher
  23. shower — rain
  24. content — happy

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