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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cap — a hat
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cap — a lid
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. field — a subject
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. field — farmland
  10. degree — from a university
  11. degree — temperature
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. cap — of ice
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. bark — to shout
  18. chest — a box
  19. chest — of your body
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. perch — the fish
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. field — for sport

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