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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. field — for sport
  3. degree — temperature
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. degree — from a university
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. shower — rain
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. shower — to wash
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. degree — an amount
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. field — a subject
  16. staff — employees
  17. staff — a stick
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. pop — music
  20. staff — employees
  21. field — farmland
  22. pop — soda
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. trunk — of a tree

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