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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. field — a subject
  3. club — for dancing
  4. degree — an amount
  5. field — farmland
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. degree — from a university
  8. spring — of water
  9. wound — an injury
  10. field — for sport
  11. spring — a coil
  12. wound — an injury
  13. club — for golf
  14. sharp — clever
  15. club — a group
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. degree — temperature
  19. rush — hurry
  20. spring — the season
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. rush — to hurry

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