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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: date · tube · swing · pitch · field · wave · straw · mine

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. field — a subject
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. swing — in golf
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. mine — for digging
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. swing — to play on
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. field — for sport
  15. tube — the underground
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. date — the fruit
  18. pitch — completely
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. field — farmland
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. tube — a container
  24. swing — music

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