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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 116 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: cold · mark · clip · degree · key · patient · wound · cabinet

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. clip — for paper
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. degree — from a university
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. key — in music
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. degree — temperature
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. key — the most important part
  14. mark — a trace
  15. key — for a lock
  16. clip — a video
  17. mark — a grade
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — an injury
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. cold — an illness
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. clip — to cut

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