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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 120 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: fork · kid · bark · patient · cold · rash · present · spring

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. kid — child
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. rash — hasty
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — an illness
  8. present — a gift
  9. kid — to tease
  10. spring — of water
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. bark — to shout
  13. rash — a series
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. present — the time now
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. fork — in a road
  19. spring — a coil
  20. cold — not warm
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. present — there
  24. spring — the season

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