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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 120 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: club · patient · squash · suit · degree · field · cold · court

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. When will it ________________ you to start?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. suit — clothes
  4. club — a group
  5. field — farmland
  6. squash — the sport
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. squash — to crush
  9. club — for golf
  10. court — of a king
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. field — for sport
  13. suit — in cards
  14. degree — from a university
  15. cold — not warm
  16. court — of law
  17. club — for dancing
  18. degree — temperature
  19. field — a subject
  20. court — for sport
  21. suit — to fit
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. patient — a sick person

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