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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: stem · field · chair · net · degree · capital

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. degree — an amount
  3. net — in sport
  4. field — for sport
  5. degree — from a university
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. stem — to come from
  8. capital — a city
  9. chair — a leader
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. degree — temperature
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. field — farmland
  15. field — a subject
  16. net — for catching
  17. net — after costs
  18. stem — of a plant

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