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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. net — after costs
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. plane — a tool
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. stem — to come from
  10. rash — a series
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. net — in sport
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. rash — hasty
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wound — an injury
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. net — for catching
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — a sick person

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