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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: field · rest · tear · patient · kid · spring · chip · degree

  1. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. tear — to rip
  5. rest — a break
  6. degree — temperature
  7. spring — of water
  8. field — for sport
  9. degree — from a university
  10. rest — what's left
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. kid — child
  13. field — farmland
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. field — a subject
  16. spring — the season
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. tear — from crying
  19. chip — for betting
  20. spring — a coil
  21. chip — to eat
  22. tear — from crying
  23. degree — an amount
  24. kid — to tease

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