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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. board — a committee
  4. degree — from a university
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. degree — temperature
  9. field — for sport
  10. row — to paddle
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. perch — the fish
  13. wound — an injury
  14. field — farmland
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. degree — an amount
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. wound — an injury
  20. field — a subject
  21. mine — for digging
  22. row — a line
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. board — to get on

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