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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: field · patient · hand · degree · scale · rush · object · coach

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  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. rush — to hurry
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. degree — an amount
  5. object — to protest
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. field — farmland
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. scale — size or range
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. scale — in music
  12. hand — help
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. degree — temperature
  16. field — a subject
  17. object — a thing
  18. object — an aim
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. hand — in cards
  21. degree — from a university
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. rush — hurry
  24. field — for sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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