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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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. kid — child
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. degree — an amount
  9. capital — a city
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. race — humankind
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. race — a contest
  15. capital — money
  16. race — the arms race
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. degree — temperature
  19. kid — to tease
  20. perch — the fish
  21. degree — from a university
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. date — the fruit
  24. capital — a big letter

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