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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: degree · patient · shower · wake · kid · wind

  1. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. 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. patient — a sick person
  2. degree — temperature
  3. degree — an amount
  4. degree — from a university
  5. kid — child
  6. shower — rain
  7. wake — a trail
  8. kid — to tease
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — moving air
  15. shower — to wash
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. 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