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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: field · bat · game · fan · bass · cell · last · mug

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Where did you ________________ them?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. last — final
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — for sport
  6. last — finally
  7. bat — the animal
  8. mug — a face
  9. game — wild animals
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. game — a match
  12. field — a subject
  13. cell — in biology
  14. last — to go on
  15. mug — a cup
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. cell — a phone
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. bass — low music
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. bass — the fish
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. mug — to rob

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