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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. staff — employees
  3. tube — a container
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. mine — for digging
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. current — electric
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. tube — the underground
  14. fork — in a road
  15. staff — a stick
  16. staff — employees
  17. wax — to grow
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. current — happening now
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. current — of water
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. cold — not warm

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