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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 116 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: fork · charge · cold · bass · degree · field · swing · march

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The tickets are free of ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. swing — in golf
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — temperature
  5. cold — not warm
  6. charge — in control
  7. march — the month
  8. charge — a price
  9. bass — low music
  10. field — a subject
  11. degree — an amount
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. charge — electricity
  14. fork — in a road
  15. march — music
  16. swing — music
  17. swing — to play on
  18. cold — an illness
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. bass — the fish
  23. march — the month
  24. field — farmland

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