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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: squash · court · hide · race · field · cabinet · bark · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. race — humankind
  3. squash — to crush
  4. field — farmland
  5. cabinet — a cupboard
  6. degree — from a university
  7. court — for sport
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. bark — to shout
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. field — for sport
  14. field — a subject
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. race — a contest
  17. squash — the sport
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. degree — temperature
  20. court — of a king
  21. court — of law
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. race — the arms race

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