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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. present — a gift
  3. present — there
  4. drill — a practice
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. prune — to trim
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. degree — an amount
  10. drill — the tool
  11. spring — the season
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. degree — from a university
  14. bat — the animal
  15. spring — of water
  16. prune — to trim
  17. spring — a coil
  18. field — farmland
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. drill — army training
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. field — a subject
  23. field — for sport
  24. present — the time now

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