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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. degree — temperature
  3. field — for sport
  4. tear — to rip
  5. net — after costs
  6. press — a publisher
  7. march — music
  8. press — to push
  9. field — farmland
  10. degree — from a university
  11. tear — from crying
  12. march — the month
  13. march — the month
  14. degree — an amount
  15. net — in sport
  16. net — for catching
  17. tear — from crying
  18. press — newspapers

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