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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bat · lean · stem · straw · coach · court · field · hide

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — farmland
  5. court — of law
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. lean — to bend
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. lean — thin
  10. stem — to come from
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. field — for sport
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. court — for sport
  16. court — of a king
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. bat — the animal
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. bat — in an idiom

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