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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: degree · foot · trunk · date · patient · chip · tear · cold

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. cold — an illness
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — to rip
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. foot — a measure
  7. date — the fruit
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. chip — for betting
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. cold — not warm
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. degree — an amount
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. degree — temperature
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. chip — to eat
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. tear — from crying
  24. trunk — of a car

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