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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. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. net — in sport
  8. wind — moving air
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. march — the month
  12. march — the month
  13. chest — a box
  14. pitch — completely
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wind — moving air
  17. march — music
  18. net — after costs
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. cold — not warm
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. net — for catching

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