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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: rule · land · date · root · patient · degree · wind · toast

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. land — to come down
  4. degree — from a university
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. date — the fruit
  7. wind — moving air
  8. rule — a law
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. degree — temperature
  11. toast — a drink to someone
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. toast — the most admired
  14. root — of a word
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. rule — government
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. toast — bread
  19. root — of a plant
  20. land — ground
  21. root — the cause
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. wind — moving air
  24. land — a country

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