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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 120 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. tear — from crying
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. field — for sport
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. degree — temperature
  9. tear — to rip
  10. degree — from a university
  11. last — final
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. last — to go on
  14. press — newspapers
  15. pass — a permit
  16. last — finally
  17. tear — from crying
  18. press — to push
  19. field — a subject
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. field — farmland
  22. degree — an amount
  23. press — a publisher
  24. game — wild animals

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