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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  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. fan — a supporter
  2. rush — hurry
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. bat — the animal
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. kid — to tease
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. degree — temperature
  15. kid — child
  16. degree — an amount
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. degree — from a university
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. chair — a leader
  23. wind — moving air
  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