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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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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: wind · fork · saw · bound · field · bat · perch · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — temperature
  3. field — farmland
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. bound — obliged
  6. wind — moving air
  7. field — for sport
  8. field — a subject
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. perch — the fish
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. bound — certain
  13. saw — the tool
  14. fork — in a road
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. bound — tied together
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. saw — the tool
  23. wind — moving air
  24. degree — from a university

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