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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. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. degree — from a university
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. degree — an amount
  6. fine — high quality
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. fine — all right
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. fork — in a road
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — an illness
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. rash — hasty
  19. wake — a trail
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. degree — temperature
  24. trunk — of a car

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