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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: pitcher · field · file · cold · bat · object · spell · shower

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. file — a document
  3. cold — not warm
  4. field — for sport
  5. object — an aim
  6. field — a subject
  7. spell — magic
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. file — a line of people
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. spell — letters
  13. object — a thing
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — to wash
  17. object — to protest
  18. file — a tool
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bat — the animal
  21. field — farmland
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. shower — rain
  24. spell — a short time

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