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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: land · calf · leaves · bat · patient · wake · hand · row

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. row — to paddle
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. land — to come down
  7. hand — in cards
  8. hand — help
  9. land — ground
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. wake — a trail
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. land — a country
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. bat — the animal
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. leaves — of a tree
  23. row — a line
  24. calf — a young animal

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