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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: cold · band · patient · staff · spell · present · shower · temple

  1. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. band — a music group
  3. band — a ring
  4. spell — magic
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. staff — a stick
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — not warm
  9. staff — employees
  10. shower — to wash
  11. spell — letters
  12. present — there
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. present — a gift
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. staff — employees
  22. spell — a short time
  23. shower — rain
  24. present — the time now

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