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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: cabinet · degree · patient · court · chest · rash · ground · branch

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  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. chest — of your body
  2. rash — a series
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. court — of law
  7. degree — from a university
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. ground — the earth
  11. degree — an amount
  12. court — for sport
  13. court — of a king
  14. ground — crushed
  15. rash — hasty
  16. branch — a division
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. ground — a position
  19. chest — a box
  20. degree — temperature
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. chest — of your body
  23. branch — of a bank
  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