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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 116 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 · file · patient · perch · pitcher · mouse · last · fork

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. file — a document
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. last — finally
  8. file — a line of people
  9. fork — in a road
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. perch — the fish
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. last — to go on
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. last — final
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. file — a tool
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. fork — a garden tool

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