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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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: tear · patient · bass · degree · capital · field

  1. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bass — the fish
  4. field — a subject
  5. tear — to rip
  6. capital — money
  7. degree — from a university
  8. capital — a city
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. degree — temperature
  14. field — for sport
  15. bass — low music
  16. field — farmland
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — from crying

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