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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. degree — an amount
  3. field — for sport
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. degree — from a university
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. last — final
  9. saw — the tool
  10. fork — in a road
  11. degree — temperature
  12. march — music
  13. field — farmland
  14. last — to go on
  15. march — the month
  16. foot — a measure
  17. march — the month
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. foot — part of the body
  20. last — finally
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. saw — the tool
  24. mine — for digging

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