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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 120 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: drill · field · bowl · foot · kick · degree

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  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. bowl — to roll
  2. foot — a measure
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. degree — an amount
  5. degree — from a university
  6. field — farmland
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. field — a subject
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. drill — army training
  11. drill — the tool
  12. kick — in football
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. drill — a practice
  15. field — for sport
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. foot — part of the body
  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