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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. swing — in golf
  3. field — farmland
  4. bark — to shout
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. swing — music
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. rash — hasty
  11. swing — to play on
  12. degree — an amount
  13. degree — from a university
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. wind — moving air
  17. field — a subject
  18. rash — a series
  19. degree — temperature
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. field — for sport
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. wind — moving air

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