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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  19. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. ground — the earth
  4. march — the month
  5. chair — a leader
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. march — the month
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. field — for sport
  10. rock — a stone
  11. march — music
  12. branch — a division
  13. dip — to sink
  14. degree — an amount
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. degree — temperature
  17. field — a subject
  18. rock — music
  19. rock — to move gently
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. ground — crushed
  23. ground — a position
  24. field — farmland

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