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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. snap — to click
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. fork — in a road
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. degree — an amount
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. file — a line of people
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. degree — temperature
  12. wax — to grow
  13. bat — the animal
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. present — a gift
  16. degree — from a university
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. present — the time now
  20. field — farmland
  21. present — there
  22. file — a tool
  23. field — for sport
  24. file — a document

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