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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: shower · board · patient · straw · cabinet · game · pop · mate

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. pop — music
  8. mate — to breed
  9. pop — soda
  10. board — a committee
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. mate — a partner
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. game — a match
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. shower — rain
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. shower — to wash
  21. game — wild animals
  22. board — to get on
  23. pop — to visit
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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