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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: court · degree · cap · pop · field · march · rash · key

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. court — of law
  3. pop — music
  4. key — in music
  5. key — for a lock
  6. cap — of ice
  7. field — farmland
  8. pop — to visit
  9. field — for sport
  10. pop — soda
  11. march — music
  12. degree — from a university
  13. march — the month
  14. court — for sport
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. degree — temperature
  17. court — of a king
  18. cap — a lid
  19. rash — a series
  20. degree — an amount
  21. key — the most important part
  22. field — a subject
  23. rash — hasty
  24. march — the month

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