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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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. current — electric
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. fall — to drop
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. current — happening now
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. degree — temperature
  11. kick — in football
  12. degree — from a university
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. fall — to drop
  15. fall — the season
  16. stem — to come from
  17. shower — rain
  18. degree — an amount
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. current — of water
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. fork — in a road
  23. shower — to wash
  24. stem — of a plant

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