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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: content · straw · pit · degree · nail · field · deal · bat

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. field — farmland
  6. pit — a hole
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. pit — in a race
  11. field — a subject
  12. degree — temperature
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. field — for sport
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. degree — an amount
  17. deal — to handle
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. content — happy
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. degree — from a university
  24. deal — an agreement

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