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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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. degree — an amount
  3. field — for sport
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. saw — the tool
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. field — a subject
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. saw — the tool
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bore — to drill
  14. field — farmland
  15. degree — temperature
  16. craft — boats
  17. tear — to rip
  18. bore — to tire
  19. degree — from a university
  20. hand — in cards
  21. tear — from crying
  22. kid — child
  23. kid — to tease
  24. hand — help

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