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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: bat · pitcher · march · lash · land · net · drill · fall

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. march — the month
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. drill — a practice
  8. fall — to drop
  9. net — in sport
  10. march — music
  11. land — a country
  12. net — after costs
  13. fall — the season
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. net — for catching
  17. drill — the tool
  18. land — ground
  19. march — the month
  20. bat — the animal
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. land — to come down
  23. fall — to drop
  24. drill — army training

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