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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 116 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 nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. court — for sport
  3. tear — from crying
  4. spell — a short time
  5. lean — thin
  6. object — to protest
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. degree — temperature
  9. tear — to rip
  10. lean — to bend
  11. degree — an amount
  12. court — of a king
  13. spell — letters
  14. tear — from crying
  15. degree — from a university
  16. pitch — completely
  17. court — of law
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. object — a thing
  20. object — an aim
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. spell — magic

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