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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: perch · field · snap · ground · scale · cold · mate · patient

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. ground — the earth
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. ground — a position
  6. mate — a friend
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. field — a subject
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. ground — crushed
  11. scale — size or range
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. snap — to click
  14. field — farmland
  15. scale — in music
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. cold — an illness
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. mate — a partner
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. mate — to breed
  22. perch — the fish
  23. field — for sport
  24. perch — for a bird

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