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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: roll · kid · patient · cold · spell · mine · root · degree

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  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. spell — letters
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. spell — magic
  4. kid — to tease
  5. roll — a list
  6. spell — a short time
  7. mine — for digging
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. degree — temperature
  10. kid — child
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. root — the cause
  13. root — of a word
  14. degree — from a university
  15. root — of a plant
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. cold — an illness
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. cold — not warm
  22. roll — a cake
  23. roll — on a roll
  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