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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 116 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's one o'clock ________________.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. track — a path
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. field — a subject
  6. craft — a skill
  7. wake — a trail
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. track — to keep track
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — an injury
  12. sharp — clever
  13. spell — letters
  14. file — a line of people
  15. field — farmland
  16. spell — a short time
  17. file — a tool
  18. craft — boats
  19. spell — magic
  20. file — a document
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. field — for sport
  24. track — a song

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