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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. face — part of the head
  4. degree — an amount
  5. face — to point toward
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. spell — magic
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. spell — a short time
  10. degree — temperature
  11. wind — moving air
  12. face — to confront
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. spell — letters
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. wind — moving air
  18. patient — calm and waiting

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