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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. field — a subject
  4. ball — a dance
  5. land — to come down
  6. degree — from a university
  7. mate — a partner
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. land — ground
  10. land — a country
  11. ground — the earth
  12. degree — an amount
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. degree — temperature
  15. wax — to grow
  16. scale — in music
  17. ball — a great time
  18. field — for sport
  19. ground — crushed
  20. mate — a friend
  21. field — farmland
  22. ground — a position
  23. scale — size or range
  24. scale — for weighing

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