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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: chair · press · wound · key · kid · degree · prune · patient

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. press — to push
  4. key — for a lock
  5. key — in music
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. degree — from a university
  8. press — newspapers
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. press — a publisher
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. chair — a leader
  13. wound — an injury
  14. kid — child
  15. prune — to trim
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. kid — to tease
  18. prune — to trim
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. key — the most important part
  23. degree — temperature
  24. degree — an amount

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