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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bat · stick · jam · kid · safe · degree · field · bark

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  4. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  5. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  12. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. jam — in traffic
  4. safe — a strongbox
  5. safe — out of danger
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. field — farmland
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. degree — from a university
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. safe — out of danger
  12. jam — a tight spot
  13. bark — to shout
  14. bat — the animal
  15. kid — to tease
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. degree — temperature
  19. kid — child
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. field — for sport
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. field — a subject
  24. bat — in an idiom

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