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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: chest · cold · bark · chair · patient · wound · lean · pop

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. cold — not warm
  4. chest — a box
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. wound — an injury
  10. pop — music
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cold — an illness
  13. wound — an injury
  14. chair — a leader
  15. lean — thin
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. chest — of your body
  18. lean — to bend
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. pop — to visit
  23. pop — soda
  24. chair — a professorship

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