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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — an amount
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. club — for golf
  5. land — a country
  6. club — a group
  7. land — ground
  8. last — to go on
  9. tear — from crying
  10. club — for dancing
  11. last — finally
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. last — final
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. tube — a container
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. tube — the underground
  20. land — to come down
  21. tear — to rip
  22. tear — from crying
  23. degree — temperature
  24. tube — in a tire

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