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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: pop · bat · lie · last · fork · court · field · degree

  1. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — to recline
  2. degree — from a university
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. degree — an amount
  5. court — of law
  6. bat — the animal
  7. last — to go on
  8. degree — temperature
  9. fork — in a road
  10. field — for sport
  11. last — final
  12. pop — to visit
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. court — for sport
  15. court — of a king
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. pop — soda
  18. field — a subject
  19. last — finally
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. field — farmland
  24. pop — music

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