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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. spring — a coil
  3. shower — to wash
  4. spring — of water
  5. wax — to grow
  6. spring — the season
  7. ground — a position
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. file — a line of people
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. ground — crushed
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. ground — the earth
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. capital — money
  20. file — a tool
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. file — a document
  23. capital — a city
  24. rush — hurry

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