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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. court — for sport
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. degree — temperature
  5. degree — an amount
  6. perch — the fish
  7. pass — a permit
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. field — a subject
  10. field — for sport
  11. date — the fruit
  12. court — of law
  13. pass — to spend time
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. tear — to rip
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. cap — a lid
  18. degree — from a university
  19. cap — of ice
  20. cap — a hat
  21. tear — from crying
  22. court — of a king
  23. field — farmland
  24. date — on the calendar

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