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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 116 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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468
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 · mate · game · march · rest · pitcher · hand · net

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. march — the month
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. game — wild animals
  6. march — music
  7. net — in sport
  8. rest — what's left
  9. mate — to breed
  10. hand — help
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. net — after costs
  13. rest — what's left
  14. net — for catching
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. hand — in cards
  19. game — a match
  20. march — the month
  21. mate — a partner
  22. mate — a friend
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. bat — the animal

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