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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. field — a subject
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. degree — from a university
  7. fork — in a road
  8. field — for sport
  9. current — of water
  10. current — happening now
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. cold — an illness
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. prune — to trim
  15. degree — temperature
  16. prune — to trim
  17. land — a country
  18. current — electric
  19. cold — not warm
  20. field — farmland
  21. land — to come down
  22. land — ground
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. prune — the fruit

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