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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 water is too ________________.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. file — a tool
  6. spell — letters
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. key — for a lock
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. foot — a measure
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. spell — magic
  13. key — in music
  14. file — a document
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. spell — a short time
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. key — the most important part
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. file — a line of people
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. cold — an illness

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