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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've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. wind — moving air
  3. game — a match
  4. game — wild animals
  5. degree — an amount
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. degree — from a university
  8. field — a subject
  9. present — the time now
  10. present — there
  11. degree — temperature
  12. wound — an injury
  13. content — happy
  14. present — a gift
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. field — for sport
  17. content — the amount
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. wound — an injury
  23. field — farmland
  24. trunk — of a tree

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