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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 116 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. march — music
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. march — the month
  5. degree — temperature
  6. cap — of ice
  7. bark — to shout
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. cap — a hat
  11. degree — from a university
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. wound — an injury
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — a subject
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. cap — a lid
  19. march — the month
  20. wound — an injury
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. degree — an amount
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. kick — in football

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