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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. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — lets stay
  2. degree — from a university
  3. game — a match
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. rule — a law
  8. clip — a video
  9. capital — money
  10. clip — to cut
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. game — wild animals
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. degree — temperature
  15. degree — an amount
  16. root — the cause
  17. root — of a word
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. capital — a city
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. clip — for paper
  23. root — of a plant
  24. rule — government

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