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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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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: swing · stand · trunk · racket · field · wound · last · cell

  1. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. wound — an injury
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. last — final
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. field — for sport
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. cell — in biology
  9. wound — an injury
  10. last — to go on
  11. last — finally
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. stand — to bear
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. cell — a phone
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. field — farmland
  21. swing — in golf
  22. swing — to play on
  23. swing — music
  24. field — a subject

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