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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. stand — to bear
  3. snap — to click
  4. hand — in cards
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. degree — temperature
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. net — in sport
  9. face — to confront
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. net — for catching
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. degree — an amount
  15. degree — from a university
  16. stem — to come from
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. face — part of the head
  19. field — farmland
  20. face — to point toward
  21. field — a subject
  22. hand — help
  23. net — after costs
  24. stem — of a plant

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