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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 120 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: cell · mouse · patient · degree · cold · fork

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. degree — from a university
  3. degree — temperature
  4. cell — a phone
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. fork — in a road
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. degree — an amount
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cell — in biology
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — calm and waiting

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