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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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. hand — help
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. cold — not warm
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. saw — the tool
  9. chair — a leader
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. spring — the season
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. bear — the animal
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. cold — an illness
  16. spring — of water
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. hand — in cards
  19. saw — the tool
  20. spring — a coil
  21. bear — the animal
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. hand — part of the body

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