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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: stick · cell · swing · patient · degree · scale · bat · tear

  1. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. degree — temperature
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. tear — from crying
  5. swing — music
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. cell — a phone
  8. degree — an amount
  9. bat — the animal
  10. tear — to rip
  11. degree — from a university
  12. scale — size or range
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. swing — in golf
  18. scale — in music
  19. swing — to play on
  20. cell — in biology
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. tear — from crying
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. bat — for baseball

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