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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: hand · game · leaves · field · sharp · spring · bat · ball

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. spring — a coil
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. game — wild animals
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. sharp — clever
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. spring — the season
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. ball — a great time
  13. hand — help
  14. ball — a dance
  15. game — a match
  16. field — farmland
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. field — for sport
  20. spring — of water
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. hand — in cards
  23. field — a subject
  24. leaves — lets stay

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