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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: ground · swing · rush · bat · season · racket · clip · fall

  1. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. fall — the season
  4. swing — music
  5. ground — the earth
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. rush — hurry
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. swing — to play on
  10. fall — to drop
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. swing — in golf
  13. ground — crushed
  14. clip — to cut
  15. bat — the animal
  16. season — in sport
  17. fall — to drop
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. season — of the year
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. clip — a video
  23. ground — a position
  24. clip — for paper

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