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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: bat · wound · degree · shower · key · patient · press · content

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. key — the most important part
  3. press — newspapers
  4. degree — temperature
  5. degree — an amount
  6. wound — an injury
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. press — a publisher
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. wound — an injury
  11. key — in music
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. shower — rain
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. key — for a lock
  16. bat — the animal
  17. shower — to wash
  18. content — happy
  19. press — to push
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. content — the amount
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. content — videos and posts

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