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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: degree · squash · land · cap · game · pop · patient · wound

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. land — to come down
  3. land — ground
  4. pop — to visit
  5. game — a match
  6. wound — an injury
  7. degree — temperature
  8. pop — music
  9. cap — a hat
  10. squash — the sport
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. degree — an amount
  13. cap — of ice
  14. squash — to crush
  15. degree — from a university
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. pop — soda
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. wound — an injury
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. game — wild animals
  24. cap — a lid

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