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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: land · snap · cold · patient · bank · degree · sharp · court

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. cold — not warm
  4. court — of a king
  5. cold — an illness
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. degree — from a university
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. land — ground
  11. snap — to click
  12. bank — for money
  13. degree — an amount
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. bank — for money
  16. court — of law
  17. sharp — clever
  18. land — a country
  19. land — to come down
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. degree — temperature
  24. bank — of a river

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