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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: club · wake · degree · row · field · squash

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. row — a line
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. field — farmland
  5. squash — the sport
  6. club — for golf
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. row — to paddle
  10. degree — temperature
  11. club — a group
  12. field — a subject
  13. wake — a trail
  14. club — for dancing
  15. squash — to crush
  16. field — for sport
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. degree — from a university

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