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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: vault · cold · stand · degree · field · spell · game · patient

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. cold — an illness
  4. vault — a safe
  5. spell — magic
  6. spell — a short time
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. cold — not warm
  9. degree — temperature
  10. stand — to bear
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. vault — an arched ceiling
  13. field — for sport
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. game — a match
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. spell — letters
  19. game — wild animals
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — a subject
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. degree — an amount

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