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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: date · field · bat · mate · wave · cold · pitcher · sharp

  1. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wave — a sudden rise
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. cold — an illness
  5. field — farmland
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. mate — to breed
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. mate — a friend
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. sharp — clever
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. field — for sport
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. field — a subject
  20. date — the fruit
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. bat — the animal
  23. cold — not warm
  24. mate — a partner

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