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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 dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. field — farmland
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. staff — employees
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. shower — to wash
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. staff — employees
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. kid — to tease
  14. field — a subject
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. field — for sport
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. staff — a stick
  19. shower — rain
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. kid — child

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