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

Word bank: field · race · content · degree · ruler · cap

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. cap — of ice
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. cap — a lid
  6. race — the arms race
  7. content — the amount
  8. field — farmland
  9. content — happy
  10. field — a subject
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. degree — an amount
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. race — humankind
  15. cap — a hat
  16. field — for sport
  17. race — a contest
  18. degree — temperature

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