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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. fall — to drop
  3. field — a subject
  4. capital — money
  5. fall — to drop
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. fork — in a road
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. degree — temperature
  11. saw — the tool
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. degree — an amount
  15. saw — the tool
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. field — farmland
  18. kid — child
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. capital — a city
  21. field — for sport
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. degree — from a university
  24. kid — to tease

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