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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 120 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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. spring — a coil
  4. chest — of your body
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. chest — of your body
  7. last — to go on
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. spring — of water
  10. cold — an illness
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. last — final
  13. present — a gift
  14. spring — the season
  15. pitch — completely
  16. present — there
  17. present — the time now
  18. last — finally
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. chest — a box
  23. hand — help
  24. cold — not warm

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