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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: bat · cold · swing · march · patient · shower · board · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. bat — the animal
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. march — the month
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. board — to get on
  9. cold — not warm
  10. degree — from a university
  11. march — the month
  12. swing — music
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. degree — temperature
  15. swing — in golf
  16. march — music
  17. board — a committee
  18. swing — to play on
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — to wash
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. cold — an illness

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