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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: cold · race · patient · ground · deal · capital · degree · wave

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. race — humankind
  3. cold — an illness
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — money
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. ground — a position
  11. ground — the earth
  12. cold — not warm
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. race — the arms race
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. deal — to handle
  18. ground — crushed
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. degree — an amount
  21. degree — temperature
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. race — a contest
  24. degree — from a university

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