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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. club — a group
  3. rash — hasty
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. prune — to trim
  10. hand — help
  11. rash — a series
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cell — in biology
  15. prune — to trim
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. last — to go on
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. club — for dancing
  20. hand — in cards
  21. last — final
  22. last — finally
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. cell — in a prison

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