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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 second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. club — a group
  3. degree — from a university
  4. field — farmland
  5. mate — a friend
  6. club — for dancing
  7. mate — to breed
  8. stem — to come from
  9. club — for golf
  10. field — a subject
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. mate — a partner
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. clip — to cut
  15. band — a music group
  16. band — a ring
  17. capital — a city
  18. clip — a video
  19. degree — an amount
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. degree — temperature
  23. field — for sport
  24. clip — for paper

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