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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I can't ________________ this cold.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. mine — for digging
  3. cold — an illness
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. cold — not warm
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. stand — to bear
  10. present — a gift
  11. fork — in a road
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. bass — the fish
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. bass — low music
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. present — the time now
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. stand — for spectators

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