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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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: field · mouse · craft · season · march · wound · snap · degree

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. degree — from a university
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. degree — temperature
  5. season — in sport
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. field — farmland
  8. snap — to click
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. field — for sport
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. march — the month
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. season — of the year
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. wound — an injury
  19. march — the month
  20. wound — an injury
  21. degree — an amount
  22. craft — a skill
  23. march — music
  24. field — a subject

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