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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. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  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. pass — a permit
  2. field — farmland
  3. tear — from crying
  4. field — a subject
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. degree — an amount
  7. tear — from crying
  8. court — of a king
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. court — of law
  11. degree — temperature
  12. fork — in a road
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. degree — from a university
  15. hand — help
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. hand — in cards
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. field — for sport
  21. court — for sport
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. tear — to rip
  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