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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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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: mouse · rest · cold · field · degree · ground · patient · straw

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. field — farmland
  3. rest — what's left
  4. degree — temperature
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. field — a subject
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. ground — the earth
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. field — for sport
  12. rest — what's left
  13. degree — an amount
  14. ground — a position
  15. ground — crushed
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. rest — a break
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. cold — not warm
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. degree — from a university
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. cold — the Cold War

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