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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 116 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 · wind · degree · wound · cold · hide · spring · present

  1. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. wind — moving air
  3. cold — an illness
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — of water
  6. present — there
  7. degree — an amount
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. present — a gift
  13. present — the time now
  14. wound — an injury
  15. degree — from a university
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. wind — moving air
  20. spring — a coil
  21. degree — temperature
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. wound — an injury
  24. cold — not warm

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