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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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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  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. land — ground
  2. net — after costs
  3. degree — temperature
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. net — for catching
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. board — to get on
  10. board — a committee
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. net — in sport
  16. degree — an amount
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. cold — an illness
  20. land — a country
  21. cold — not warm
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. land — to come down
  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