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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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. wound — an injury
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. cue — a signal
  5. rule — government
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. net — for catching
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. capital — a city
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wound — an injury
  16. cue — a hint
  17. cue — for pool
  18. net — after costs
  19. band — a music group
  20. capital — money
  21. rule — a law
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. net — in sport

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