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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. bat — the animal
  3. track — a song
  4. track — a path
  5. degree — an amount
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. court — of a king
  10. degree — from a university
  11. current — of water
  12. court — for sport
  13. degree — temperature
  14. court — of law
  15. current — happening now
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. track — to keep track
  18. field — a subject
  19. field — for sport
  20. lie — to recline
  21. current — electric
  22. field — farmland
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — in an idiom

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