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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. march — the month
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. cell — a phone
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. land — a country
  7. can — to be able to
  8. march — the month
  9. land — to come down
  10. march — music
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. can — a tin
  14. cell — in biology
  15. chest — a box
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chair — a leader
  20. land — ground
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. can — a tin

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