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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: patient · net · cell · cold · spring · rush · land · wax

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — to grow
  4. spring — a coil
  5. cell — in biology
  6. rush — hurry
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. net — after costs
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. land — a country
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. cell — a phone
  16. net — for catching
  17. land — to come down
  18. net — in sport
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. land — ground
  21. cold — not warm
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — of water
  24. rush — a thrill

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