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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. net — for catching
  4. wax — to grow
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. march — the month
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. foot — a measure
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. net — after costs
  16. degree — temperature
  17. perch — the fish
  18. march — the month
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. march — music
  22. net — in sport
  23. degree — from a university
  24. degree — an amount

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