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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. fork — in a road
  4. face — to point toward
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. field — farmland
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. staff — a stick
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. face — part of the head
  11. content — happy
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. content — the amount
  14. field — for sport
  15. field — a subject
  16. staff — employees
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. staff — employees
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. face — to confront
  23. degree — from a university
  24. degree — temperature

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