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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  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. march — the month
  3. kick — in football
  4. ground — crushed
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. degree — temperature
  7. field — a subject
  8. hand — in cards
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. press — to push
  11. degree — an amount
  12. march — music
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. press — newspapers
  15. ground — a position
  16. ground — the earth
  17. press — a publisher
  18. hand — help
  19. field — for sport
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. march — the month
  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