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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.

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: pop · mouse · mine · race · ground · field · degree · present

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. field — farmland
  4. pop — soda
  5. pop — to visit
  6. degree — from a university
  7. ground — the earth
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. field — a subject
  10. degree — temperature
  11. degree — an amount
  12. ground — a position
  13. field — for sport
  14. present — the time now
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. pop — music
  18. race — humankind
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. race — a contest
  21. race — the arms race
  22. present — there
  23. ground — crushed
  24. mine — for digging

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