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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 120 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: root · straw · chip · bat · cold · mouse · field · season

  1. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — in a computer
  2. field — a subject
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. chip — for betting
  8. season — of the year
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. season — in sport
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. chip — to eat
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. cold — an illness
  18. field — farmland
  19. root — of a word
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. root — of a plant
  22. field — for sport
  23. root — the cause
  24. bat — the animal

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