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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. cold — an illness
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. last — to go on
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. last — finally
  8. pass — a permit
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. cap — a lid
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. last — final
  14. cap — a hat
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. file — a document
  17. cold — not warm
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. mark — a trace
  20. file — a line of people
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. file — a tool
  23. mark — a grade
  24. cap — of ice

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