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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 · drill · bark · cap · field · stem · bat · march

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  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. bark — a dog's sound
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. field — for sport
  7. bat — the animal
  8. march — the month
  9. cap — a hat
  10. drill — a practice
  11. cap — of ice
  12. bark — to shout
  13. march — music
  14. stem — to come from
  15. march — the month
  16. cap — a lid
  17. field — farmland
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. drill — army training
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. drill — the tool
  23. stem — a stem cell
  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