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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: track · land · cold · patient · pop · last · wound · temple

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. track — a path
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. wound — an injury
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. wound — an injury
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. track — to keep track
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. cold — not warm
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. land — a country
  14. land — ground
  15. track — a song
  16. pop — music
  17. pop — soda
  18. cold — an illness
  19. land — to come down
  20. pop — to visit
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. last — to go on
  23. last — finally
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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