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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. cold — an illness
  3. track — to keep track
  4. kid — child
  5. shower — rain
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. track — a path
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. track — a song
  18. kid — to tease
  19. shower — to wash
  20. court — of a king
  21. date — the fruit
  22. court — of law
  23. cold — not warm
  24. patient — a sick person

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