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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. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  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. nail — for a hammer
  2. bound — certain
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. stem — to come from
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. bound — obliged
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. bound — tied together
  16. cold — not warm
  17. lie — to recline
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. stem — of a plant
  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