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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: pound · spring · cell · degree · branch · band · field · mate

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. band — a ring
  3. spring — of water
  4. field — for sport
  5. cell — in biology
  6. degree — an amount
  7. spring — the season
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. mate — a friend
  10. degree — from a university
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. field — a subject
  13. mate — to breed
  14. band — a music group
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. cell — a phone
  18. branch — a division
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. mate — a partner
  22. spring — a coil
  23. degree — temperature
  24. pound — a weight

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