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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: drill · ball · spring · chair · current · net · degree · patient

  1. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. net — after costs
  3. ball — a great time
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. degree — an amount
  6. current — electric
  7. spring — a coil
  8. net — in sport
  9. current — of water
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. drill — a practice
  14. chair — a leader
  15. spring — the season
  16. net — for catching
  17. spring — of water
  18. drill — army training
  19. degree — temperature
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. drill — the tool
  22. degree — from a university
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. ball — a dance

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