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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: row · track · rash · march · hand · fall · degree · field

  1. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. rash — hasty
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. fall — to drop
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. fall — the season
  7. hand — in cards
  8. track — to keep track
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. track — a song
  11. track — a path
  12. fall — to drop
  13. degree — an amount
  14. march — the month
  15. degree — temperature
  16. field — for sport
  17. field — farmland
  18. row — a line
  19. hand — help
  20. march — music
  21. march — the month
  22. field — a subject
  23. row — to paddle
  24. degree — from a university

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