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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 120 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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  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. degree — an amount
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. pit — in a race
  4. degree — from a university
  5. club — for golf
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. scale — size or range
  8. ground — crushed
  9. field — farmland
  10. field — a subject
  11. field — for sport
  12. club — a group
  13. drill — a practice
  14. drill — the tool
  15. scale — in music
  16. ground — the earth
  17. degree — temperature
  18. drill — army training
  19. club — for dancing
  20. pit — a hole
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. ground — a position
  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