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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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. row — a line
  3. lean — to bend
  4. spring — the season
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. lean — thin
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. spring — a coil
  11. bear — the animal
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. bear — the animal
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. spring — of water
  16. cold — an illness
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bat — the animal
  20. row — to paddle
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. row — a quarrel

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