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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. band — a ring
  3. charge — a price
  4. field — a subject
  5. stock — goods
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. field — farmland
  8. stock — shares
  9. field — for sport
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. degree — temperature
  13. degree — from a university
  14. charge — electricity
  15. roll — a list
  16. charge — in control
  17. ground — a position
  18. roll — a cake
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. ground — the earth
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. pound — a weight
  23. ground — crushed
  24. band — a music group

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