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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. squash — to crush
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. lie — to recline
  5. degree — temperature
  6. game — wild animals
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. roll — a cake
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. degree — an amount
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. roll — a list
  15. game — a match
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. hand — help
  19. degree — from a university
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. hand — in cards

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