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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. tear — to rip
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. field — for sport
  6. degree — from a university
  7. field — farmland
  8. wound — an injury
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. cap — a lid
  11. court — of a king
  12. field — a subject
  13. tear — from crying
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. bulb — for light
  16. court — for sport
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cap — a hat
  19. fork — in a road
  20. degree — an amount
  21. bulb — for light
  22. court — of law
  23. cap — of ice
  24. wound — an injury

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