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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  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. field — a subject
  2. craft — a skill
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. craft — boats
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. field — for sport
  7. rest — what's left
  8. kid — child
  9. field — farmland
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. rest — a break
  12. degree — an amount
  13. degree — from a university
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. row — a line
  18. scale — in music
  19. scale — size or range
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. rest — what's left
  22. kid — to tease
  23. row — to paddle
  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