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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. My mare is ________________ in color.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bay — a part of the sea
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. bay — a horse colour
  8. row — to paddle
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. row — a line
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. can — to be able to
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. cold — an illness
  18. can — a tin
  19. can — a tin
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. bat — the animal
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. cold — the Cold War

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