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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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. wound — an injury
  4. game — a match
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. game — wild animals
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. degree — temperature
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. degree — from a university
  13. mine — for digging
  14. object — to protest
  15. object — a thing
  16. rash — hasty
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. degree — an amount
  19. hand — in cards
  20. rash — a series
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. wound — an injury
  24. hand — help

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