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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. drill — army training
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. bass — low music
  7. pit — a hole
  8. pit — in a race
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bass — the fish
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. band — a ring
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. cold — an illness
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. chest — of your body
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. band — a music group
  20. drill — the tool
  21. chest — a box
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. drill — a practice
  24. bass — the instrument

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