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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 · deal · field · capital · stick · content

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. content — happy
  4. stick — to attach or keep to
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. deal — to handle
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. degree — temperature
  10. content — the amount
  11. field — for sport
  12. capital — money
  13. degree — from a university
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — a city
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — a subject
  18. deal — an agreement

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