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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: last · scale · chest · cold · patient · ruler

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. ruler — for measuring
  3. last — final
  4. last — finally
  5. chest — a box
  6. chest — of your body
  7. scale — size or range
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. scale — in music
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — not warm
  17. chest — of your body
  18. scale — for weighing

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