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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 120 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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. degree — from a university
  4. cue — a signal
  5. field — a subject
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. chip — to eat
  8. degree — an amount
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. field — for sport
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. row — a line
  13. row — to paddle
  14. degree — temperature
  15. field — farmland
  16. chip — for betting
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. cue — for pool

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