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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. degree — an amount
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. field — farmland
  6. game — a match
  7. field — for sport
  8. bank — for money
  9. bass — low music
  10. capital — a city
  11. bass — the fish
  12. capital — money
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. degree — temperature
  16. spell — a short time
  17. bank — of a river
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. game — wild animals
  21. spell — letters
  22. degree — from a university
  23. bank — for money
  24. spell — magic

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