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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: ball · squash · stock · patient · swing · chest · land · degree

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. stock — shares
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. chest — of your body
  5. swing — to play on
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. swing — music
  9. land — to come down
  10. chest — of your body
  11. stock — goods
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. degree — from a university
  14. land — a country
  15. swing — in golf
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. ball — a dance
  18. chest — a box
  19. ball — a great time
  20. degree — an amount
  21. degree — temperature
  22. squash — to crush
  23. squash — the sport
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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