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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. content — happy
  3. content — the amount
  4. shower — to wash
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. season — of the year
  8. capital — a city
  9. capital — money
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. season — in sport
  12. saw — the tool
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. degree — from a university
  16. shower — rain
  17. saw — the tool
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. degree — temperature
  23. wound — an injury
  24. degree — an amount

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