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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: pitcher · mug · land · cold · perch · game · patient · snap

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. mug — to rob
  3. mug — a face
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. cold — an illness
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. mug — a cup
  11. cold — not warm
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. snap — to click
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. land — to come down
  17. land — a country
  18. perch — the fish
  19. land — ground
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. game — wild animals
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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