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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: march · patient · trunk · stick · degree · tear

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. stick — to attach or keep to
  3. march — music
  4. tear — from crying
  5. march — the month
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — from a university
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. march — the month

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