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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 116 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: band · degree · can · field · content · rest · mine · court

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. rest — a break
  3. field — farmland
  4. content — the amount
  5. mine — for digging
  6. can — to be able to
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. field — a subject
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — what's left
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. can — a tin
  14. content — happy
  15. court — of law
  16. band — a music group
  17. court — for sport
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. band — a ring
  20. can — a tin
  21. degree — from a university
  22. field — for sport
  23. degree — temperature
  24. court — of a king

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