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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. band — a music group
  3. field — farmland
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — an amount
  7. hand — in cards
  8. hand — help
  9. degree — temperature
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. band — a ring
  12. field — a subject
  13. prune — to trim
  14. chip — to eat
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. field — for sport
  18. chip — for betting
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. craft — boats
  21. prune — to trim
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. craft — a skill
  24. hand — part of the body

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