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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: chair · cold · patient · kid · drill · last

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. kid — to tease
  5. kid — child
  6. drill — a practice
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. drill — the tool
  10. cold — not warm
  11. drill — army training
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. chair — a leader
  14. last — final
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. last — to go on
  17. cold — an illness
  18. patient — a sick person

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