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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: swing · lean · racket · field · current · cold · stem · bat

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. current — happening now
  3. lean — to bend
  4. cold — not warm
  5. current — electric
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. lean — thin
  8. swing — in golf
  9. swing — to play on
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. swing — music
  12. stem — to come from
  13. bat — the animal
  14. field — a subject
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. field — farmland
  17. current — of water
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. field — for sport
  20. cold — an illness
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. stem — a stem cell

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