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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. mark — a grade
  3. field — for sport
  4. content — the amount
  5. degree — an amount
  6. ground — a position
  7. ground — crushed
  8. drill — a practice
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. content — happy
  11. mark — a trace
  12. fine — all right
  13. ground — the earth
  14. drill — army training
  15. cold — not warm
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. degree — from a university
  18. degree — temperature
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. field — a subject
  22. drill — the tool
  23. fine — high quality
  24. field — farmland

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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