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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. pit — a hole
  3. capital — a city
  4. rule — government
  5. field — a subject
  6. field — for sport
  7. field — farmland
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. land — to come down
  10. fork — in a road
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. land — a country
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. ball — a dance
  15. degree — an amount
  16. ball — a great time
  17. land — ground
  18. capital — money
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. degree — temperature
  22. pit — in a race
  23. rule — a law
  24. fork — to eat with

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