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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. file — a tool
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. shower — to wash
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. rule — a law
  7. game — a match
  8. rule — government
  9. ruler — a monarch
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. file — a document
  14. foot — a measure
  15. cold — not warm
  16. file — a line of people
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. cold — an illness
  19. game — wild animals
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. shower — rain

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