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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.

Words on the sheet
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Word bank
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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. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. ruler — for measuring
  3. field — a subject
  4. present — there
  5. ruler — for measuring
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. wind — moving air
  10. present — a gift
  11. field — farmland
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. wind — moving air
  14. ruler — a monarch
  15. clip — for paper
  16. mine — for digging
  17. field — for sport
  18. degree — from a university
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — to cut
  22. present — the time now
  23. chair — a leader
  24. degree — temperature

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