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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. row — to paddle
  5. row — a line
  6. field — a subject
  7. field — for sport
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. degree — temperature
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. stem — to come from
  14. court — for sport
  15. court — of law
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. court — of a king
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. degree — from a university
  22. field — farmland
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. coach — a trainer

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