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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. degree — from a university
  3. field — for sport
  4. hand — in cards
  5. wax — to grow
  6. root — of a plant
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. current — electric
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. swing — to play on
  12. degree — an amount
  13. field — farmland
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. current — of water
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. field — a subject
  18. current — happening now
  19. root — of a word
  20. plane — a tool
  21. degree — temperature
  22. swing — music
  23. root — the cause
  24. swing — in golf

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