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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: hand · degree · cold · game · spell · trunk · charge · patient

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The tickets are free of ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. cold — an illness
  3. charge — in control
  4. degree — from a university
  5. charge — a price
  6. spell — letters
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. spell — magic
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. charge — electricity
  12. cold — not warm
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. degree — temperature
  17. hand — in cards
  18. hand — help
  19. game — wild animals
  20. game — a match
  21. spell — a short time
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. degree — an amount
  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