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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: mouse · degree · field · lean · straw · court · file · cold

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. field — farmland
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — an illness
  5. file — a line of people
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. degree — temperature
  8. degree — from a university
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. field — a subject
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. file — a document
  14. court — of law
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. file — a tool
  17. field — for sport
  18. cold — not warm
  19. degree — an amount
  20. court — for sport
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. lean — thin
  23. lean — to bend
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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