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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 · row · field · stock · degree · chip · foot · lash

  1. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. field — for sport
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bat — the animal
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. degree — an amount
  9. stock — shares
  10. stock — goods
  11. chip — for betting
  12. row — a line
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. degree — temperature
  16. field — farmland
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. degree — from a university
  19. foot — a measure
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. chip — to eat
  23. field — a subject
  24. row — to paddle

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