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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: content · present · court · degree · patient · ruler · squash · field

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. degree — from a university
  3. present — the time now
  4. squash — to crush
  5. court — for sport
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. present — a gift
  10. content — the amount
  11. present — there
  12. degree — an amount
  13. field — farmland
  14. degree — temperature
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. court — of law
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. field — a subject
  22. squash — the sport
  23. court — of a king
  24. field — for sport

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