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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. cap — a hat
  3. last — to go on
  4. plane — a tool
  5. last — final
  6. field — for sport
  7. bass — low music
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. field — farmland
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. degree — from a university
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. cap — of ice
  14. degree — an amount
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. cap — a lid
  17. mine — for digging
  18. degree — temperature
  19. field — a subject
  20. bass — the fish
  21. last — finally
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. roll — a list
  24. mine — an explosive

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