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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. degree — from a university
  3. wound — an injury
  4. squash — the sport
  5. can — to be able to
  6. land — a country
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. land — ground
  9. spell — letters
  10. spell — magic
  11. wound — an injury
  12. spell — a short time
  13. field — for sport
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. field — a subject
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. foot — a measure
  19. can — a tin
  20. squash — to crush
  21. degree — an amount
  22. field — farmland
  23. land — to come down
  24. degree — temperature

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