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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 nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. cold — not warm
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. last — finally
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. fork — in a road
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. court — of law
  14. court — of a king
  15. court — for sport
  16. bark — to shout
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. last — final
  20. last — to go on
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. cold — an illness
  23. mine — for digging
  24. pitcher — a jug

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