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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 nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. capital — money
  4. deal — a big deal
  5. deal — to handle
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. last — final
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. prune — to trim
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. file — a tool
  13. last — to go on
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. chest — of your body
  16. prune — to trim
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. last — finally
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. file — a document
  21. capital — a city
  22. file — a line of people
  23. chest — a box
  24. chest — of your body

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