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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. bound — obliged
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. pop — soda
  5. hand — in cards
  6. kid — child
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. kid — to tease
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. pop — music
  12. bound — tied together
  13. row — a line
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. hand — help
  18. cell — a phone
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. pop — to visit
  21. cell — in biology
  22. row — to paddle
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. bound — certain

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