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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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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. track — to keep track
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. track — a song
  6. row — a line
  7. field — for sport
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. scale — in music
  10. can — a tin
  11. field — farmland
  12. degree — temperature
  13. swing — music
  14. degree — from a university
  15. field — a subject
  16. swing — in golf
  17. fork — in a road
  18. degree — an amount
  19. swing — to play on
  20. scale — size or range
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. track — a path
  23. row — to paddle
  24. can — a tin

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