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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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Word bank
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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: degree · club · drill · tear · field · tube

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tube — a container
  3. drill — the tool
  4. degree — from a university
  5. tear — to rip
  6. tear — from crying
  7. degree — temperature
  8. club — for dancing
  9. field — farmland
  10. tube — the underground
  11. drill — a practice
  12. field — a subject
  13. club — a group
  14. drill — army training
  15. degree — an amount
  16. field — for sport
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. club — for golf

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