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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: hand · kick · field · degree · fine · court · mine · date

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. field — a subject
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. field — farmland
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. degree — temperature
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. degree — an amount
  12. court — of a king
  13. court — of law
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. fine — all right
  17. kick — in football
  18. hand — help
  19. hand — in cards
  20. degree — from a university
  21. mine — for digging
  22. date — the fruit
  23. field — for sport
  24. court — for sport

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