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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.

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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: chest · field · degree · bear · clip · drill · firm · board

  1. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. clip — to cut
  3. degree — an amount
  4. firm — steady
  5. field — farmland
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — a box
  8. clip — for paper
  9. firm — decided
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. firm — a company
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. degree — from a university
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. board — to get on
  18. drill — the tool
  19. board — a committee
  20. bear — the animal
  21. clip — a video
  22. drill — army training
  23. degree — temperature
  24. drill — a practice

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