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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: content · mark · mate · tear · spell · degree · field · march

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. content — happy
  3. spell — letters
  4. degree — from a university
  5. spell — a short time
  6. mate — a partner
  7. degree — an amount
  8. content — the amount
  9. tear — to rip
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. field — for sport
  12. degree — temperature
  13. march — the month
  14. march — the month
  15. tear — from crying
  16. field — farmland
  17. spell — magic
  18. mate — a friend
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. tear — from crying
  21. mark — a trace
  22. march — music
  23. mark — a grade
  24. mate — to breed

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