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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 116 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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. staff — employees
  3. spring — the season
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. staff — a stick
  7. march — the month
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. face — part of the head
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. spring — of water
  13. march — music
  14. mouse — for a computer
  15. spring — a coil
  16. sharp — clever
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. cold — not warm
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. cold — an illness
  21. staff — employees
  22. face — to confront
  23. face — to point toward
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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