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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 120 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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. fall — the season
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. last — final
  5. cold — an illness
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. saw — the tool
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. last — to go on
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. last — finally
  13. game — a match
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. cold — not warm
  16. court — for sport
  17. fall — to drop
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. fall — to drop
  20. court — of law
  21. plane — a tool
  22. saw — the tool
  23. game — wild animals
  24. court — of a king

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