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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 120 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 · row · land · lean · patient · shower · rock · fine

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. land — a country
  3. rock — music
  4. shower — to wash
  5. lean — to bend
  6. fine — all right
  7. lean — thin
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. land — ground
  11. rock — a stone
  12. cold — an illness
  13. fine — high quality
  14. row — a line
  15. row — to paddle
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — not warm
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. rock — to move gently
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. shower — rain
  24. patient — a sick person

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