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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 116 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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. fine — all right
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. scale — size or range
  6. field — for sport
  7. scale — in music
  8. degree — temperature
  9. net — for catching
  10. fine — high quality
  11. degree — from a university
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. net — in sport
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. rest — what's left
  17. field — farmland
  18. field — a subject
  19. net — after costs
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. degree — an amount
  22. snap — to click
  23. rest — what's left
  24. rest — a break

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