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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: fine · face · ground · degree · plane · root · field · capital

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. fine — all right
  3. capital — money
  4. degree — from a university
  5. face — part of the head
  6. face — to confront
  7. root — the cause
  8. field — for sport
  9. plane — a tool
  10. capital — a city
  11. root — of a plant
  12. ground — crushed
  13. degree — an amount
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. ground — a position
  16. field — a subject
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. root — of a word
  19. field — farmland
  20. face — to point toward
  21. ground — the earth
  22. degree — temperature
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. plane — in geometry

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