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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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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: patient · degree · drill · chest · stock · craft

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. drill — army training
  3. degree — an amount
  4. stock — shares
  5. chest — of your body
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. chest — a box
  8. stock — goods
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. craft — boats
  11. drill — a practice
  12. chest — of your body
  13. craft — a skill
  14. degree — temperature
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. drill — the tool
  18. stock — a soup base

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