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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. kid — child
  3. spell — letters
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. tear — from crying
  6. wound — an injury
  7. mate — a partner
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. cap — a hat
  10. cap — a lid
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. cap — of ice
  13. tear — to rip
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. spell — a short time
  17. spell — magic
  18. chair — a leader
  19. mate — a friend
  20. tear — from crying
  21. mate — to breed
  22. kid — to tease
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. patient — a sick person

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