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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. cap — of ice
  4. spring — of water
  5. shower — to wash
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. saw — the tool
  8. cap — a hat
  9. fine — high quality
  10. chest — a box
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. degree — an amount
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. spring — the season
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. cap — a lid
  17. chest — of your body
  18. shower — rain
  19. chest — of your body
  20. spring — a coil
  21. degree — from a university
  22. saw — the tool
  23. degree — temperature
  24. saw — past of 'see'

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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