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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: kid · field · craft · bat · cap · net · ground · fan

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — farmland
  5. net — for catching
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. cap — a hat
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. net — in sport
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. ground — a position
  14. kid — to tease
  15. cap — of ice
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. kid — child
  18. bat — the animal
  19. craft — a skill
  20. field — for sport
  21. net — after costs
  22. cap — a lid
  23. ground — crushed
  24. ground — the earth

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