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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 didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. track — a path
  3. wind — moving air
  4. track — a song
  5. degree — from a university
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. wind — moving air
  9. field — for sport
  10. field — a subject
  11. ball — a great time
  12. track — to keep track
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. club — for golf
  15. ball — a dance
  16. degree — an amount
  17. club — a group
  18. club — for dancing
  19. bat — the animal
  20. kid — to tease
  21. degree — temperature
  22. field — farmland
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. kid — child

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