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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 120 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. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  5. When will it ________________ you to start?
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. court — for sport
  3. degree — from a university
  4. suit — clothes
  5. suit — to fit
  6. wound — an injury
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. bear — the animal
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. degree — temperature
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. bear — the animal
  15. suit — in cards
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. court — of law
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. mine — for digging
  20. wound — an injury
  21. court — of a king
  22. field — farmland
  23. field — for sport
  24. degree — an amount

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