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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 120 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: wound · tube · club · field · mark · fall · degree · ground

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. club — for golf
  4. ground — the earth
  5. degree — from a university
  6. tube — a container
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — to drop
  9. ground — crushed
  10. wound — an injury
  11. mark — a grade
  12. field — for sport
  13. club — a group
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. club — for dancing
  16. ground — a position
  17. wound — an injury
  18. tube — the underground
  19. field — a subject
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. degree — an amount
  22. mark — a trace
  23. degree — temperature
  24. fall — the season

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