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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: drill · degree · field · pop · current · mine · toast · tear

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. pop — music
  3. field — a subject
  4. degree — temperature
  5. degree — an amount
  6. current — of water
  7. drill — a practice
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. pop — to visit
  11. toast — the most admired
  12. pop — soda
  13. toast — bread
  14. drill — army training
  15. tear — from crying
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. tear — from crying
  18. toast — a drink to someone
  19. field — farmland
  20. tear — to rip
  21. drill — the tool
  22. current — electric
  23. current — happening now
  24. field — for sport

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