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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. club — for golf
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. stand — to bear
  5. drill — army training
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. degree — from a university
  9. field — farmland
  10. cold — not warm
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. degree — an amount
  13. pitch — completely
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. club — for dancing
  16. branch — a division
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. club — a group
  20. drill — the tool
  21. drill — a practice
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. degree — temperature
  24. field — a subject

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