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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: rest · clip · pitcher · tube · bat · bowl · track · chest

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. chest — of your body
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. tube — the underground
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. rest — a break
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. clip — a video
  11. track — to keep track
  12. bat — the animal
  13. rest — what's left
  14. track — a song
  15. clip — to cut
  16. rest — what's left
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. chest — a box
  19. chest — of your body
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. tube — a container
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. clip — for paper
  24. track — a path

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