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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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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: rock · chest · pit · trunk · last · patient · tear · cold

  1. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. cold — not warm
  4. chest — of your body
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. last — to go on
  7. rock — music
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. pit — a hole
  10. last — final
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. rock — a stone
  14. tear — to rip
  15. pit — in a race
  16. chest — a box
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. chest — of your body
  20. cold — an illness
  21. tear — from crying
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. tear — from crying
  24. last — finally

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