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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. court — of law
  3. lean — to bend
  4. cold — an illness
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. hand — help
  8. band — a ring
  9. can — a tin
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. court — for sport
  13. cold — not warm
  14. march — the month
  15. can — to be able to
  16. can — a tin
  17. march — the month
  18. lean — thin
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. band — a music group
  21. hand — in cards
  22. court — of a king
  23. march — music
  24. patient — a sick person

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