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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: wind · march · kid · row · cabinet · patient

  1. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. kid — to tease
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. row — to paddle
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. kid — child
  12. march — the month
  13. wind — moving air
  14. row — a line
  15. march — music
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. wind — moving air
  18. march — the month

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