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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 120 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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. mug — to rob
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. perch — the fish
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. row — to paddle
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. degree — temperature
  11. file — a document
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — for digging
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. row — a line
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. file — a tool
  19. degree — an amount
  20. mug — a cup
  21. bat — the animal
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. file — a line of people
  24. degree — from a university

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