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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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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: kid · cold · patient · bound · wax · firm · row · march

  1. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  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. firm — a company
  2. march — the month
  3. row — a line
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bound — obliged
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. row — to paddle
  9. bound — tied together
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. cold — not warm
  12. firm — steady
  13. kid — to tease
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bound — certain
  16. firm — decided
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. march — music
  19. kid — child
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. wax — to grow
  22. march — the month
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  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