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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. rock — a stone
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. court — of law
  5. mate — to breed
  6. rock — music
  7. degree — an amount
  8. degree — from a university
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. wound — an injury
  12. file — a line of people
  13. degree — temperature
  14. file — a tool
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. mate — a friend
  17. field — farmland
  18. file — a document
  19. wound — an injury
  20. field — a subject
  21. field — for sport
  22. court — of a king
  23. court — for sport
  24. mate — a partner

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