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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. rest — a break
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. race — humankind
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — a subject
  7. degree — an amount
  8. cap — a hat
  9. degree — temperature
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. cap — a lid
  12. content — the amount
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. field — farmland
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. rest — what's left
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. cap — of ice
  19. rest — what's left
  20. content — happy
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. race — a contest
  23. race — the arms race
  24. ruler — for measuring

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