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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. field — farmland
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — for sport
  6. object — an aim
  7. current — happening now
  8. degree — from a university
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. object — a thing
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. cold — an illness
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. current — electric
  18. saw — the tool
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. degree — temperature
  21. degree — an amount
  22. current — of water
  23. object — to protest
  24. sharp — clever

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