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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. ground — a position
  3. bear — the animal
  4. degree — temperature
  5. file — a document
  6. field — farmland
  7. bear — the animal
  8. toast — the most admired
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. file — a tool
  11. degree — an amount
  12. capital — a city
  13. field — for sport
  14. swing — in golf
  15. swing — to play on
  16. toast — bread
  17. ground — crushed
  18. toast — a drink to someone
  19. swing — music
  20. file — a line of people
  21. capital — money
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. field — a subject
  24. ground — the earth

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