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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: board · patient · cell · cold · bank · chest

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. cell — a phone
  3. bank — for money
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. board — to get on
  6. chest — of your body
  7. cold — not warm
  8. chest — a box
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. bank — of a river
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. bank — for money
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. cell — in biology
  18. chest — of your body

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