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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 120 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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. court — of a king
  4. cold — not warm
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. stock — goods
  13. stem — to come from
  14. stock — shares
  15. court — of law
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. cold — an illness
  18. court — for sport
  19. tube — a container
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. bore — to tire
  22. bore — to drill
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. wave — of the sea

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