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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. field — for sport
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. shower — rain
  6. field — farmland
  7. field — a subject
  8. degree — an amount
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. shower — to wash
  12. perch — the fish
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. degree — temperature
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. pitch — completely
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. degree — from a university

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