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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 an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. When was this ________________ built?
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. pit — a hole
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. spring — of water
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. spring — a coil
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. degree — from a university
  11. hand — in cards
  12. rock — a stone
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — for paper
  16. field — for sport
  17. field — farmland
  18. degree — temperature
  19. clip — a video
  20. rock — music
  21. degree — an amount
  22. hand — help
  23. spring — the season
  24. pit — in a race

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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