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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. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. spell — letters
  4. field — for sport
  5. field — farmland
  6. row — to paddle
  7. rest — what's left
  8. degree — from a university
  9. row — a line
  10. spell — magic
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. safe — a strongbox
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. spell — a short time
  15. degree — temperature
  16. rest — a break
  17. capital — a city
  18. field — a subject
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. capital — money
  22. degree — an amount
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. rest — what's left

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