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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. field — a subject
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — an amount
  7. degree — from a university
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. field — farmland
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. stock — goods
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. kid — to tease
  16. pound — a weight
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kid — child
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. chair — a leader
  22. stock — shares
  23. wax — to grow
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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