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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. cold — not warm
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. bank — of a river
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. squash — the sport
  8. snap — to click
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. cold — an illness
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. squash — to crush
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bank — for money
  19. row — to paddle
  20. bank — for money
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. racket — a loud noise

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