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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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. stem — to come from
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. cold — not warm
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. squash — to crush
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. shower — rain
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. shower — to wash
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. game — a match
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. snap — to click
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. squash — the sport
  22. cold — an illness
  23. game — wild animals
  24. patient — a sick person

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