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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. root — of a word
  5. cold — not warm
  6. rest — a break
  7. bear — the animal
  8. rest — what's left
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. field — a subject
  14. rest — what's left
  15. root — the cause
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. field — for sport
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. root — of a plant
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. bear — the animal
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. field — farmland

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