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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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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 · capital · field · fork · cell · rule · swing · ball

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. cell — a phone
  4. field — a subject
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. capital — money
  7. degree — temperature
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. ball — a dance
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. swing — music
  12. capital — a city
  13. field — for sport
  14. ball — a great time
  15. rule — government
  16. rule — a law
  17. degree — an amount
  18. cell — in biology
  19. degree — from a university
  20. fork — in a road
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. swing — to play on
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. swing — in golf

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