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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. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — in control
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. degree — an amount
  4. degree — from a university
  5. kid — to tease
  6. charge — a price
  7. kid — child
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. file — a tool
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. file — a document
  12. field — farmland
  13. file — a line of people
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. swing — to play on
  16. degree — temperature
  17. field — for sport
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. field — a subject
  20. swing — in golf
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. charge — electricity
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. swing — music

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