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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. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. 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. patient — a sick person
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. court — for sport
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. shower — to wash
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. date — the fruit
  8. court — of a king
  9. prune — to trim
  10. mine — for digging
  11. degree — from a university
  12. file — a line of people
  13. degree — temperature
  14. file — a document
  15. court — of law
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. prune — to trim
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. shower — rain
  22. degree — an amount
  23. file — a tool
  24. 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