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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 ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. club — a group
  3. degree — temperature
  4. press — to push
  5. club — for golf
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. press — a publisher
  8. net — for catching
  9. shower — to wash
  10. net — in sport
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. press — newspapers
  13. cold — not warm
  14. degree — from a university
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. degree — an amount
  17. club — for dancing
  18. net — after costs
  19. shower — rain
  20. date — the fruit
  21. cold — an illness
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. date — on the calendar

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