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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 120 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. degree — an amount
  3. degree — from a university
  4. race — a contest
  5. spring — the season
  6. degree — temperature
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. tear — to rip
  9. tear — from crying
  10. spring — a coil
  11. spring — of water
  12. race — humankind
  13. field — farmland
  14. mate — a partner
  15. tear — from crying
  16. pass — a permit
  17. lean — thin
  18. field — for sport
  19. mate — a friend
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. lean — to bend
  22. race — the arms race
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. mate — to breed

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