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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: track · degree · deal · wake · cue · last · field · key

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. field — a subject
  3. track — a path
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. key — for a lock
  7. key — in music
  8. track — a song
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. cue — for pool
  11. last — to go on
  12. track — to keep track
  13. degree — from a university
  14. last — finally
  15. field — farmland
  16. cue — a signal
  17. field — for sport
  18. cue — a hint
  19. key — the most important part
  20. wake — a trail
  21. last — final
  22. degree — an amount
  23. degree — temperature
  24. deal — to handle

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