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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: degree · bowl · trunk · plane · stem · field · toast · cold

  1. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. degree — an amount
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. degree — from a university
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. toast — the most admired
  11. degree — temperature
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. field — a subject
  14. plane — a tool
  15. toast — bread
  16. stem — to come from
  17. field — farmland
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. cold — an illness
  21. field — for sport
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. plane — an aircraft

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