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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: board · bay · patient · clip · shower · bear · cold · land

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. cold — not warm
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. bear — the animal
  6. board — to get on
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. bear — the animal
  12. shower — to wash
  13. land — ground
  14. clip — to cut
  15. bay — to keep at bay
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. board — a committee
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. land — a country
  21. shower — rain
  22. clip — a video
  23. land — to come down
  24. cold — an illness

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