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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  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. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. tear — from crying
  5. mate — a partner
  6. mate — a friend
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. wound — an injury
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. wake — a trail
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. pit — in a race
  14. tear — to rip
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. tear — from crying
  17. mate — to breed
  18. shower — to wash
  19. wound — an injury
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. pit — a hole
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  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