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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 · bowl · pitcher · track · spell · cold · bulb · chest

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. track — a song
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. spell — letters
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. cold — not warm
  10. track — to keep track
  11. spell — a short time
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bulb — for light
  14. spell — magic
  15. chest — of your body
  16. cold — an illness
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — a box
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. bat — the animal
  22. track — a path
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bulb — for light

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