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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 got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. rock — music
  3. field — farmland
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. clip — for paper
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. degree — from a university
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. field — a subject
  10. object — to protest
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. clip — a video
  13. object — an aim
  14. field — for sport
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. rock — a stone
  19. sharp — clever
  20. hand — help
  21. degree — an amount
  22. clip — to cut
  23. degree — temperature
  24. object — a thing

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