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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. degree — temperature
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. rest — what's left
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. field — for sport
  10. hand — in cards
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. field — farmland
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. hand — help
  15. scale — size or range
  16. field — a subject
  17. pitch — completely
  18. bark — to shout
  19. wound — an injury
  20. degree — an amount
  21. scale — in music
  22. degree — from a university
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. rest — what's left

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