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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 120 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 · lean · bass · bat · band · net · dip · cold

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. bass — the fish
  3. bat — the animal
  4. net — for catching
  5. net — after costs
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. field — for sport
  10. field — a subject
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. net — in sport
  13. band — a ring
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bass — low music
  17. dip — to sink
  18. lean — thin
  19. cold — not warm
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. lean — to bend
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. band — a music group

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