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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. degree — temperature
  4. net — in sport
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. net — after costs
  7. spell — letters
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. shower — to wash
  10. field — a subject
  11. press — a publisher
  12. press — newspapers
  13. spell — magic
  14. field — for sport
  15. degree — from a university
  16. press — to push
  17. bear — the animal
  18. bear — the animal
  19. degree — an amount
  20. tube — a container
  21. net — for catching
  22. shower — rain
  23. spell — a short time
  24. tube — the underground

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