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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: bound · hand · net · ball · content · degree · field · land

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. content — happy
  3. field — a subject
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — temperature
  6. bound — tied together
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. land — to come down
  10. hand — in cards
  11. bound — obliged
  12. land — a country
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. field — for sport
  15. ball — a dance
  16. net — for catching
  17. hand — help
  18. ball — a great time
  19. land — ground
  20. field — farmland
  21. net — in sport
  22. content — the amount
  23. bound — certain
  24. degree — an amount

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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