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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: perch · spring · staff · hand · date · last · row · patient

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. last — to go on
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. last — finally
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. hand — help
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. hand — in cards
  10. staff — employees
  11. row — a line
  12. spring — the season
  13. last — final
  14. staff — a stick
  15. date — the fruit
  16. spring — of water
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. perch — the fish
  19. row — to paddle
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. spring — a coil
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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