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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 · face · file · racket · bat · straw · kid · wax

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. field — a subject
  3. face — to confront
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. field — farmland
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. wax — to grow
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — the animal
  14. kid — to tease
  15. file — a line of people
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. file — a document
  18. kid — child
  19. field — for sport
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. file — a tool
  23. face — to point toward
  24. face — part of the head

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