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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  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. field — a subject
  2. cold — an illness
  3. vault — a safe
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. ground — a position
  6. degree — temperature
  7. ground — crushed
  8. bank — for money
  9. bank — for money
  10. cold — not warm
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. degree — an amount
  13. bank — of a river
  14. branch — a division
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. field — farmland
  17. swing — in golf
  18. degree — from a university
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. swing — music
  21. swing — to play on
  22. field — for sport
  23. cold — the Cold War
  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