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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. field — for sport
  3. club — a group
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. court — of a king
  6. court — for sport
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. march — music
  9. degree — an amount
  10. march — the month
  11. field — a subject
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — for paper
  14. degree — temperature
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. field — farmland
  18. club — for dancing
  19. club — for golf
  20. march — the month
  21. court — of law
  22. clip — a video
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. wake — a trail

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