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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: tear · mark · march · field · row · file · degree · foot

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. mark — a grade
  3. degree — from a university
  4. march — the month
  5. tear — to rip
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. tear — from crying
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. march — music
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. field — a subject
  12. row — a line
  13. field — farmland
  14. degree — an amount
  15. foot — a measure
  16. file — a tool
  17. file — a line of people
  18. degree — temperature
  19. field — for sport
  20. march — the month
  21. mark — a trace
  22. row — to paddle
  23. tear — from crying
  24. file — a document

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