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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 · dip · chest · staff · bat · file · pitcher · capital

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. field — for sport
  4. chest — a box
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. file — a line of people
  10. file — a tool
  11. bat — the animal
  12. staff — employees
  13. dip — to sink
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. capital — a city
  16. staff — a stick
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. field — farmland
  20. chest — of your body
  21. capital — money
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. staff — employees
  24. file — a document

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