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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: patient · chair · race · snap · rush · shower · degree · track

  1. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. rush — hurry
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. track — a song
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. degree — temperature
  8. race — a contest
  9. race — humankind
  10. track — to keep track
  11. degree — an amount
  12. track — a path
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. race — the arms race
  15. snap — to click
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. shower — to wash
  18. degree — from a university
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. chair — a leader
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  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