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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
468
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: field · court · wax · fork · rash · stock · degree · game

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  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. fork — to eat with
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. court — for sport
  4. degree — from a university
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. stock — goods
  7. court — of law
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. game — a match
  13. field — a subject
  14. field — farmland
  15. rash — a series
  16. fork — in a road
  17. game — wild animals
  18. stock — shares
  19. court — of a king
  20. rash — hasty
  21. field — for sport
  22. degree — temperature
  23. wax — to grow
  24. degree — an amount

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