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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — an amount
  3. pop — soda
  4. roll — a list
  5. rock — music
  6. pop — to visit
  7. net — after costs
  8. drill — the tool
  9. field — a subject
  10. drill — army training
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. drill — a practice
  13. net — for catching
  14. field — for sport
  15. rock — a stone
  16. net — in sport
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. band — a ring
  19. pop — music
  20. field — farmland
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. roll — a cake
  23. band — a music group
  24. degree — temperature

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