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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. cap — a lid
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. field — a subject
  6. rash — a series
  7. cap — a hat
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. degree — temperature
  10. degree — an amount
  11. degree — from a university
  12. field — for sport
  13. mark — a trace
  14. wound — an injury
  15. field — farmland
  16. mine — for digging
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. content — happy
  19. wound — an injury
  20. mark — a grade
  21. content — the amount
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. cap — of ice
  24. rash — on the skin

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