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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: staff · safe · chest · roll · cold · spring · pitch · patient

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. chest — a box
  5. safe — out of danger
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. staff — employees
  8. chest — of your body
  9. spring — of water
  10. pitch — completely
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spring — a coil
  14. safe — a strongbox
  15. roll — a list
  16. chest — of your body
  17. roll — a cake
  18. safe — out of danger
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. staff — employees
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. staff — a stick
  23. spring — the season
  24. cold — the Cold War

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