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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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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: degree · land · wind · chip · pitcher · face · pit · patient

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. face — to confront
  3. wind — moving air
  4. land — to come down
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. chip — for betting
  7. degree — an amount
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. pit — a hole
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. degree — temperature
  13. wind — moving air
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. degree — from a university
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. land — ground
  18. chip — to eat
  19. face — to point toward
  20. pit — in a race
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. face — part of the head
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. land — a country

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