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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: chest · roll · cold · cap · stock · patient · wound · face

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. stock — goods
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cap — a hat
  5. roll — a cake
  6. chest — a box
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. wound — an injury
  9. stock — shares
  10. face — to confront
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cold — not warm
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. face — part of the head
  17. roll — a list
  18. cap — a lid
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. cap — of ice
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. face — to point toward
  23. wound — an injury
  24. roll — on a roll

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