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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: cold · pit · patient · bass · drill · row · bulb · face

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. face — to point toward
  4. drill — a practice
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. pit — a hole
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. bass — low music
  9. row — a line
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. bulb — for light
  12. cold — not warm
  13. drill — army training
  14. face — part of the head
  15. pit — in a race
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bass — the fish
  19. drill — the tool
  20. face — to confront
  21. bulb — for light
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. row — to paddle

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