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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. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. field — for sport
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. deal — to handle
  6. ground — a position
  7. field — a subject
  8. field — farmland
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. degree — an amount
  11. ground — crushed
  12. degree — temperature
  13. row — a line
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. cold — not warm
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. row — to paddle
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. ground — the earth
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. degree — from a university
  24. cold — the Cold War

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