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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. key — the most important part
  3. degree — from a university
  4. drill — the tool
  5. field — a subject
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. cap — a hat
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. degree — temperature
  13. key — for a lock
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. fork — in a road
  16. field — farmland
  17. cap — of ice
  18. degree — an amount
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. bat — the animal
  21. drill — army training
  22. field — for sport
  23. drill — a practice
  24. key — in music

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