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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: cabinet · track · branch · mate · hand · field · degree · pitcher

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  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. pitcher — a jug
  2. hand — help
  3. field — a subject
  4. track — a path
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. degree — an amount
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. mate — a partner
  9. field — farmland
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. field — for sport
  13. mate — a friend
  14. hand — in cards
  15. track — a song
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. track — to keep track
  19. mate — to breed
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. degree — temperature
  23. branch — a division
  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