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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 120 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 · press · field · stand · game · mine · tear · hand

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. field — a subject
  3. hand — in cards
  4. press — newspapers
  5. degree — temperature
  6. mine — for digging
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. degree — an amount
  10. field — for sport
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. hand — help
  13. tear — from crying
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. game — wild animals
  16. tear — to rip
  17. tear — from crying
  18. press — to push
  19. degree — from a university
  20. press — a publisher
  21. game — a match
  22. field — farmland
  23. stand — to bear
  24. game — a kind of play

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