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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.

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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. degree — an amount
  3. degree — temperature
  4. lean — to bend
  5. lean — thin
  6. wound — an injury
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. degree — from a university
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. track — a song
  12. plane — a tool
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. chest — of your body
  15. craft — a skill
  16. saw — the tool
  17. track — to keep track
  18. track — a path
  19. chest — a box
  20. wound — an injury
  21. craft — boats
  22. chest — of your body
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. plane — in geometry

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