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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: field · bay · kid · bat · straw · swing · rush · date

  1. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. My mare is ________________ in color.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a part of the sea
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. bay — a horse colour
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. kid — to tease
  7. field — a subject
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. rush — hurry
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. swing — to play on
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. field — farmland
  17. bat — the animal
  18. swing — in golf
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. swing — music
  21. date — the fruit
  22. field — for sport
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. kid — child

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