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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: ground · degree · mate · field · roll · cabinet · bat · squash

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  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. field — farmland
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. roll — a list
  5. squash — to crush
  6. roll — a cake
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. mate — a partner
  9. squash — the sport
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. mate — a friend
  12. ground — crushed
  13. mate — to breed
  14. bat — the animal
  15. field — a subject
  16. degree — an amount
  17. field — for sport
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. ground — a position
  20. degree — temperature
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. ground — the earth
  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