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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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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: patient · degree · chair · pit · tear · plane · hand · fall

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. hand — in cards
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. degree — temperature
  5. fall — the season
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. fall — to drop
  9. plane — a tool
  10. hand — help
  11. degree — from a university
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. tear — from crying
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. tear — from crying
  19. chair — a leader
  20. tear — to rip
  21. pit — a hole
  22. pit — in a race
  23. fall — to drop
  24. hand — part of the body

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