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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. ground — crushed
  3. court — of a king
  4. court — for sport
  5. net — for catching
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. degree — an amount
  9. ground — the earth
  10. degree — from a university
  11. net — in sport
  12. court — of law
  13. field — farmland
  14. tear — to rip
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. field — a subject
  17. rock — a stone
  18. net — after costs
  19. degree — temperature
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — from crying
  22. field — for sport
  23. ground — a position
  24. hide — to keep secret

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