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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 big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  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. stem — of a plant
  2. field — for sport
  3. degree — temperature
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. stem — to come from
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. vault — a safe
  11. field — a subject
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. degree — from a university
  16. rule — government
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. vault — an arched ceiling
  19. cold — an illness
  20. field — farmland
  21. rule — a law
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. patient — a sick person
  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