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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: chest · last · cold · hide · club · patient

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. chest — of your body
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. cold — not warm
  5. club — for golf
  6. last — finally
  7. chest — a box
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. last — final
  10. club — for dancing
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. club — a group
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. last — to go on
  16. chest — of your body
  17. cold — an illness
  18. hide — to keep secret

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