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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: press · temple · degree · net · chair · plane · rest · field

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. net — in sport
  3. press — a publisher
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. field — farmland
  6. degree — temperature
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. chair — a leader
  9. rest — what's left
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. degree — from a university
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. field — a subject
  14. degree — an amount
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — after costs
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. press — to push
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. rest — what's left
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. plane — a tool
  23. press — newspapers
  24. rest — a break

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