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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: degree · row · band · cabinet · stock · field · kid · mate

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. What do you think of the new ________________?
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  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. band — a ring
  2. mate — a friend
  3. kid — to tease
  4. stock — goods
  5. stock — shares
  6. band — a music group
  7. row — a line
  8. degree — an amount
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. field — farmland
  11. kid — child
  12. field — a subject
  13. field — for sport
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. row — to paddle
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. degree — temperature
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. mate — a partner
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. mate — to breed
  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