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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. degree — from a university
  6. cue — for pool
  7. cue — a signal
  8. chip — to eat
  9. board — a committee
  10. cell — in biology
  11. degree — an amount
  12. cell — a phone
  13. perch — the fish
  14. board — to get on
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. cue — a hint
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — an illness
  22. degree — temperature
  23. chip — for betting
  24. patient — a sick person

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