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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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. club — a group
  3. club — for golf
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. game — a match
  6. game — wild animals
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — not warm
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. wind — moving air
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. fork — in a road
  13. roll — a cake
  14. wind — moving air
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. club — for dancing
  17. net — for catching
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. net — after costs
  20. roll — a list
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. cold — an illness
  24. net — in sport

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