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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 keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. field — farmland
  3. spell — magic
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. degree — an amount
  8. wake — a trail
  9. field — for sport
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. field — a subject
  12. track — a song
  13. degree — from a university
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. fork — in a road
  16. spell — letters
  17. degree — temperature
  18. track — a path
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. spell — a short time
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. mine — for digging

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