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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. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to drill
  2. degree — an amount
  3. net — in sport
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. field — a subject
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. field — for sport
  9. squash — the sport
  10. root — of a plant
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. snap — to click
  13. root — the cause
  14. degree — from a university
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. net — for catching
  19. squash — to crush
  20. degree — temperature
  21. bore — to tire
  22. field — farmland
  23. root — of a word
  24. net — after costs

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