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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. field — a subject
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. cold — an illness
  5. field — farmland
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. degree — from a university
  8. degree — temperature
  9. court — for sport
  10. cold — not warm
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. wax — to grow
  17. court — of a king
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. court — of law
  22. field — for sport
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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