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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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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: perch · prune · bound · patient · row · bear · cold · wound

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. bound — obliged
  4. perch — the fish
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bear — the animal
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. bound — tied together
  10. bear — the animal
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wound — an injury
  15. prune — to trim
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. wound — an injury
  18. bound — certain
  19. row — to paddle
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. prune — to trim
  24. cold — not warm

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