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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: cell · degree · board · hand · field · land · pitcher · patient

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. cell — a phone
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. field — farmland
  8. land — ground
  9. degree — an amount
  10. cell — in biology
  11. field — for sport
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. degree — temperature
  14. land — a country
  15. board — a committee
  16. land — to come down
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. board — to get on
  19. hand — help
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. hand — in cards
  23. field — a subject
  24. degree — from a university

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