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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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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. last — finally
  3. field — for sport
  4. last — to go on
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. degree — from a university
  7. shower — rain
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. last — final
  10. degree — an amount
  11. perch — the fish
  12. field — a subject
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. degree — temperature
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. shower — to wash
  18. perch — for a bird

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