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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 116 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: degree · staff · cold · pass · mine · scale · field · last

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. mine — for digging
  3. pass — to spend time
  4. field — farmland
  5. degree — from a university
  6. staff — employees
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. pass — a permit
  10. field — for sport
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. field — a subject
  13. scale — size or range
  14. last — final
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. degree — an amount
  17. scale — in music
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. last — to go on
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — not warm
  22. staff — a stick
  23. staff — employees
  24. last — finally

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