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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: mate · prune · cold · bay · stick · spell · game · patient

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. My mare is ________________ in color.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. bay — a horse colour
  4. mate — a friend
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mate — a partner
  9. game — wild animals
  10. cold — not warm
  11. spell — letters
  12. bay — a part of the sea
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. prune — to trim
  15. spell — magic
  16. spell — a short time
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. game — a match
  19. mate — to breed
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. prune — to trim
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. bay — to keep at bay

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