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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: swing · racket · wound · field · bat · chip · tear · squash

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. bat — the animal
  3. chip — to eat
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. squash — the sport
  6. swing — music
  7. squash — to crush
  8. swing — in golf
  9. swing — to play on
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. field — a subject
  13. field — for sport
  14. tear — to rip
  15. chip — for betting
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. field — farmland
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. wound — an injury
  23. tear — from crying
  24. tear — from crying

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