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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. field — farmland
  4. degree — from a university
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. fall — to drop
  7. degree — an amount
  8. degree — temperature
  9. staff — employees
  10. prune — to trim
  11. staff — employees
  12. fall — to drop
  13. scale — size or range
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. scale — in music
  16. wind — moving air
  17. prune — to trim
  18. staff — a stick
  19. field — for sport
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. wind — moving air
  24. fall — the season

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