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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: cold · kid · patient · trunk · mark · season · wake · net

  1. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. wake — a trail
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. kid — to tease
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. net — after costs
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. mark — a grade
  10. season — of the year
  11. kid — child
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. mark — a trace
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. cold — not warm
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. cold — an illness
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. net — in sport
  22. net — for catching
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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