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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. spell — letters
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. row — to paddle
  6. fork — in a road
  7. degree — temperature
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. season — in sport
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. cold — not warm
  12. degree — an amount
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. season — of the year
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. degree — from a university
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. row — a line
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. spell — magic
  22. spell — a short time
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — the Cold War

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