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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 captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. kid — to tease
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. date — the fruit
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bat — the animal
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. bulb — for light
  13. cold — an illness
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. bulb — for light
  16. board — a committee
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. cold — not warm
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. kid — child
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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