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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: patient · cold · pass · craft · degree · rest

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. craft — boats
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. rest — what's left
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. pass — a permit
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — not warm
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. degree — an amount
  12. rest — a break
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. degree — temperature
  15. craft — a skill
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. rest — what's left

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