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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. field — farmland
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — temperature
  7. field — a subject
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. degree — an amount
  10. track — a song
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. track — a path
  13. last — final
  14. tube — a container
  15. last — to go on
  16. lie — to recline
  17. tube — the underground
  18. cell — a phone
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. track — to keep track
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. field — for sport
  24. cell — in biology

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