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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. cell — a phone
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. court — for sport
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. court — of law
  7. cold — not warm
  8. court — of a king
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. mate — to breed
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. rush — hurry
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cell — in biology
  17. mate — a friend
  18. land — to come down
  19. land — ground
  20. mate — a partner
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. land — a country
  24. cell — in a prison

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