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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 116 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's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. cold — an illness
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. band — a music group
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. net — after costs
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. net — in sport
  11. band — a ring
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. bore — to drill
  15. cold — not warm
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. perch — the fish
  19. cell — a phone
  20. cell — in biology
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. net — for catching
  24. bore — to tire

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