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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 116 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 potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. degree — temperature
  3. file — a tool
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. degree — an amount
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. race — humankind
  11. race — the arms race
  12. fork — in a road
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. rush — hurry
  15. file — a line of people
  16. race — a contest
  17. file — a document
  18. chip — for betting
  19. degree — from a university
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. hand — in cards
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. hand — help

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