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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: field · clip · trunk · cabinet · lean · degree · game · perch

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. game — wild animals
  3. field — a subject
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. clip — a video
  8. degree — temperature
  9. lean — thin
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. clip — to cut
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. game — a match
  18. perch — the fish
  19. field — farmland
  20. lean — to bend
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. field — for sport
  23. clip — for paper
  24. degree — an amount

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