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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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. band — a ring
  4. file — a line of people
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. band — a music group
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mate — a partner
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. rash — hasty
  13. sharp — clever
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a tool
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. rash — a series
  19. mate — a friend
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. mate — to breed
  24. patient — a sick person

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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