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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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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: cold · degree · field · club · track · bay · date · kick

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. My mare is ________________ in color.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. degree — from a university
  3. club — for golf
  4. track — to keep track
  5. field — farmland
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. track — a song
  10. track — a path
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. degree — an amount
  14. date — the fruit
  15. club — a group
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. kick — in football
  18. club — for dancing
  19. cold — an illness
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. cold — not warm
  22. field — for sport
  23. bay — a horse colour
  24. field — a subject

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