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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: cell · ball · face · bowl · bark · field · bat · degree

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. ball — a dance
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. cell — a phone
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. ball — a great time
  10. degree — temperature
  11. degree — an amount
  12. face — to point toward
  13. field — for sport
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. bat — the animal
  17. field — a subject
  18. bark — to shout
  19. field — farmland
  20. cell — in biology
  21. degree — from a university
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. face — to confront
  24. face — part of the head

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