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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. key — in music
  4. degree — from a university
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. sharp — clever
  7. field — for sport
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. cell — a phone
  10. mark — a grade
  11. file — a line of people
  12. key — the most important part
  13. key — for a lock
  14. file — a document
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. field — a subject
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. cell — in biology
  19. file — a tool
  20. degree — an amount
  21. field — farmland
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. degree — temperature
  24. mark — a trace

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