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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 120 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 · clip · degree · fine · pit · bark · shower · mate

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. degree — from a university
  3. mate — a partner
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. fine — all right
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. clip — to cut
  9. mate — to breed
  10. bark — to shout
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. shower — to wash
  13. pit — in a race
  14. clip — for paper
  15. pit — a hole
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. shower — rain
  18. fine — high quality
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. degree — an amount
  23. clip — a video
  24. degree — temperature

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