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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. content — happy
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. shower — rain
  6. last — final
  7. perch — the fish
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. last — finally
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. cold — an illness
  14. present — the time now
  15. cold — not warm
  16. stand — to bear
  17. content — the amount
  18. last — to go on
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. shower — to wash
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. present — there
  24. perch — for a bird

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