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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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. firm — a company
  3. firm — decided
  4. firm — steady
  5. hand — help
  6. wound — an injury
  7. hand — in cards
  8. file — a tool
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. row — to paddle
  11. file — a document
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. scale — size or range
  14. scale — in music
  15. row — a line
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. file — a line of people
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. fork — in a road
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. wound — an injury

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