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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 116 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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. degree — temperature
  3. degree — an amount
  4. kid — to tease
  5. stem — to come from
  6. land — to come down
  7. land — ground
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. ball — a great time
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. land — a country
  15. content — the amount
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. content — happy
  20. ball — a dance
  21. kid — child
  22. degree — from a university
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. patient — a sick person

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