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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: cold · wake · board · degree · craft · fork · field · row

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. row — a line
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. fork — in a road
  5. cold — an illness
  6. degree — an amount
  7. cold — not warm
  8. field — a subject
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. row — to paddle
  13. board — to get on
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. degree — temperature
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. field — farmland
  19. wake — a trail
  20. craft — a skill
  21. board — a committee
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. craft — boats
  24. field — for sport

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