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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: ground · swing · degree · wake · net · capital · trunk · field

  1. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. degree — an amount
  4. net — for catching
  5. wake — a trail
  6. net — after costs
  7. ground — the earth
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — a subject
  10. degree — from a university
  11. field — farmland
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. swing — to play on
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. swing — music
  16. ground — crushed
  17. ground — a position
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. net — in sport
  20. swing — in golf
  21. capital — money
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. degree — temperature
  24. capital — a city

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