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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: pass · degree · race · nail · stand · content · spring · field

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. field — farmland
  3. spring — of water
  4. race — humankind
  5. spring — the season
  6. degree — an amount
  7. degree — from a university
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. field — a subject
  12. stand — to bear
  13. spring — a coil
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. pass — to succeed
  16. race — the arms race
  17. field — for sport
  18. content — the amount
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. degree — temperature
  21. pass — a permit
  22. content — happy
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. nail — for a hammer

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