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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 124 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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. track — a path
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. field — a subject
  5. degree — an amount
  6. firm — decided
  7. firm — steady
  8. field — farmland
  9. tear — from crying
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. track — to keep track
  13. degree — temperature
  14. field — for sport
  15. degree — from a university
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. track — a song
  18. bat — the animal
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. wound — an injury
  21. mine — for digging
  22. tear — to rip
  23. wound — an injury
  24. tear — from crying

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