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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: cold · patient · capital · race · can · degree

  1. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. can — to be able to
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. cold — not warm
  6. race — the arms race
  7. degree — from a university
  8. capital — money
  9. can — a tin
  10. race — a contest
  11. can — a tin
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. degree — an amount
  14. capital — a city
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. cold — an illness
  17. race — humankind
  18. degree — temperature

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