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

Word bank: rest · patient · rule · cold · field · straw

  1. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. rule — a law
  3. cold — not warm
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. rule — government
  8. field — a subject
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — a break
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. field — for sport
  17. cold — an illness
  18. field — farmland

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