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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 124 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. field — farmland
  3. pop — to visit
  4. sharp — clever
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. degree — temperature
  7. pop — music
  8. kick — in football
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. season — of the year
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. season — in sport
  13. date — the fruit
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. field — for sport
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. field — a subject
  21. pop — soda
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. degree — from a university
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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