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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 haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. row — to paddle
  3. field — a subject
  4. degree — from a university
  5. key — the most important part
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. degree — an amount
  8. row — a line
  9. cold — an illness
  10. field — for sport
  11. wind — moving air
  12. firm — steady
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. cold — not warm
  16. key — in music
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. degree — temperature
  19. field — farmland
  20. wind — moving air
  21. firm — a company
  22. firm — decided
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. key — for a lock

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