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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 116 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: bat · march · cold · bank · wind · patient

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bank — for money
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. cold — not warm
  6. march — the month
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. march — the month
  12. bank — for money
  13. wind — moving air
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. march — music
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. bank — of a river
  18. bat — for baseball

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