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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 120 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 nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. perch — the fish
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wake — a trail
  5. spell — letters
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. spell — a short time
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. cold — not warm
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. stem — to come from
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. ball — a great time
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. ball — a dance
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. spell — magic

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