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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: kid · coach · field · bark · court · pitch · calf · degree

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. degree — from a university
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. court — of a king
  6. court — of law
  7. field — farmland
  8. degree — an amount
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. field — for sport
  14. pitch — completely
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. court — for sport
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. field — a subject
  19. degree — temperature
  20. kid — child
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. bark — to shout
  23. kid — to tease
  24. calf — a young animal

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