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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. court — of a king
  3. cold — an illness
  4. degree — temperature
  5. degree — from a university
  6. field — for sport
  7. season — in sport
  8. root — of a word
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. field — a subject
  11. stock — shares
  12. root — the cause
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. court — for sport
  15. root — of a plant
  16. court — of law
  17. present — there
  18. cold — not warm
  19. season — of the year
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. field — farmland
  22. present — the time now
  23. stock — goods
  24. degree — an amount

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