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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 120 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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. fall — to drop
  3. degree — from a university
  4. field — farmland
  5. key — for a lock
  6. fall — to drop
  7. field — for sport
  8. fall — the season
  9. key — in music
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. kid — child
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. key — the most important part
  16. field — a subject
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. degree — an amount

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