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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 120 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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cell · degree · snap · trunk · pound · field

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. degree — an amount
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. cell — a phone
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. pound — a weight
  9. cell — in biology
  10. snap — to click
  11. field — farmland
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. field — a subject
  14. field — for sport
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. degree — from a university
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. snap — to snap out of it

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