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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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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: drill · patient · cold · kid · spell · chair

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

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

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