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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: pit · cold · swing · bat · stick · rush · roll · net

  1. That must've been a ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. swing — to play on
  4. roll — a list
  5. swing — music
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. pit — in a race
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. pit — a hole
  13. net — in sport
  14. cold — an illness
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. rush — hurry
  17. roll — a cake
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. swing — in golf
  23. net — after costs
  24. net — for catching

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