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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: march · degree · field · mark · game · nail · face · content

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. march — music
  3. mark — a trace
  4. degree — an amount
  5. march — the month
  6. game — a match
  7. field — for sport
  8. face — to confront
  9. content — happy
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. face — part of the head
  12. degree — temperature
  13. march — the month
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. degree — from a university
  18. field — a subject
  19. game — wild animals
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. face — to point toward
  22. content — the amount
  23. mark — to pay attention
  24. mark — a grade

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