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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: wave · bank · kid · degree · band · patient

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  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. degree — from a university
  2. kid — child
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. band — a music group
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. kid — to tease
  8. bank — for money
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. bank — of a river
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. bank — for money
  15. degree — an amount
  16. band — a ring
  17. wave — of the sea
  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