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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. track — to keep track
  3. fall — the season
  4. degree — from a university
  5. race — the arms race
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. degree — an amount
  8. degree — temperature
  9. field — a subject
  10. race — humankind
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. field — farmland
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. track — a path
  16. race — a contest
  17. field — for sport
  18. fall — to drop
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. mine — for digging
  21. kid — to tease
  22. kid — child
  23. fall — to drop
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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