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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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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: club · march · vault · field · branch · pitch · bat · rest

  1. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. field — farmland
  3. march — the month
  4. rest — a break
  5. field — a subject
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. field — for sport
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. rest — what's left
  10. club — for golf
  11. branch — a division
  12. club — a group
  13. club — for dancing
  14. march — music
  15. vault — a safe
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. march — the month
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. bat — the animal
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. pitch — completely
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. pitch — a sports field

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