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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: season · shower · press · net · pitcher · field · bat · tube

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. field — for sport
  3. net — in sport
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. season — of the year
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. net — for catching
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. press — a publisher
  14. tube — the underground
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. bat — the animal
  17. net — after costs
  18. field — a subject
  19. season — in sport
  20. tube — a container
  21. shower — rain
  22. field — farmland
  23. press — newspapers
  24. shower — to wash

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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