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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. degree — an amount
  3. club — for golf
  4. field — a subject
  5. kid — child
  6. tear — from crying
  7. degree — temperature
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. drill — army training
  10. drill — the tool
  11. pass — a permit
  12. kid — to tease
  13. tear — from crying
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. pass — to succeed
  16. season — in sport
  17. club — a group
  18. club — for dancing
  19. field — for sport
  20. season — of the year
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. degree — from a university
  23. tear — to rip
  24. drill — a practice

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