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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: bat · bore · spring · field · land · kick · key · pitch

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. key — for a lock
  3. land — ground
  4. land — to come down
  5. spring — a coil
  6. spring — of water
  7. field — for sport
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. spring — the season
  10. field — a subject
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. field — farmland
  15. land — a country
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. bore — to drill
  19. pitch — completely
  20. bore — to tire
  21. key — in music
  22. key — the most important part
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. kick — in football

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