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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 120 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: bank · file · patient · content · racket · degree · perch · squash

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bank — of a river
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. degree — from a university
  8. perch — the fish
  9. degree — temperature
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a tool
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. bank — for money
  19. content — the amount
  20. degree — an amount
  21. squash — to crush
  22. squash — the sport
  23. bank — for money
  24. file — a line of people

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