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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  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. pit — a hole
  2. fall — to drop
  3. degree — from a university
  4. game — wild animals
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. field — for sport
  7. degree — an amount
  8. pop — music
  9. pop — to visit
  10. degree — temperature
  11. field — farmland
  12. game — a match
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. march — music
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fall — the season
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. march — the month
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. pit — in a race
  22. march — the month
  23. pop — soda
  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