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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: rule · cold · net · wound · jam · row · press · patient

  1. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rule — a law
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. jam — a tight spot
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. press — to push
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. net — after costs
  12. press — newspapers
  13. press — a publisher
  14. row — a line
  15. cold — not warm
  16. row — to paddle
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. net — in sport
  19. net — for catching
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  24. rule — government

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