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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: court · race · vault · patient · march · degree · wound · mine

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. wound — an injury
  3. march — the month
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. march — the month
  7. race — humankind
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. court — for sport
  11. march — music
  12. race — the arms race
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. court — of law
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. degree — temperature
  18. vault — a safe
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. race — a contest
  21. degree — from a university
  22. court — of a king
  23. degree — an amount
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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