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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. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. degree — an amount
  3. mine — for digging
  4. spell — a short time
  5. degree — from a university
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. bound — tied together
  9. band — a ring
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. bound — certain
  12. bound — obliged
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. track — a path
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. degree — temperature
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. spell — magic
  20. bat — the animal
  21. track — a song
  22. spell — letters
  23. band — a music group
  24. track — to keep track

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