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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: pitcher · track · race · rash · lash · field · bat · clip

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. rash — hasty
  3. track — a song
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. clip — for paper
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. field — for sport
  9. race — the arms race
  10. race — humankind
  11. bat — the animal
  12. clip — to cut
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. track — to keep track
  16. rash — a series
  17. clip — a video
  18. track — a path
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. field — a subject
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. field — farmland

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