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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. last — final
  3. field — for sport
  4. swing — music
  5. row — a line
  6. staff — employees
  7. swing — in golf
  8. last — to go on
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. row — to paddle
  11. staff — a stick
  12. last — finally
  13. field — farmland
  14. file — a document
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — after costs
  17. file — a line of people
  18. degree — temperature
  19. file — a tool
  20. staff — employees
  21. net — in sport
  22. degree — an amount
  23. swing — to play on
  24. degree — from a university

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