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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.

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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: file · ground · field · chip · court · bank · degree · spell

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. ground — the earth
  3. degree — an amount
  4. court — of law
  5. ground — crushed
  6. bank — for money
  7. court — of a king
  8. degree — from a university
  9. ground — a position
  10. court — for sport
  11. chip — for betting
  12. field — for sport
  13. file — a tool
  14. bank — of a river
  15. degree — temperature
  16. file — a document
  17. field — farmland
  18. field — a subject
  19. spell — a short time
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. bank — for money
  22. spell — magic
  23. file — a line of people
  24. spell — letters

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