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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 nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. cold — an illness
  11. capital — money
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. perch — the fish
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. capital — a city
  18. fork — in a road
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. mine — for digging
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. pitch — completely

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