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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 120 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.

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: wind · chair · patient · stock · land · season · ball · last

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. ball — a great time
  3. wind — moving air
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. last — to go on
  6. wind — moving air
  7. season — of the year
  8. land — to come down
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. land — ground
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. stock — shares
  14. last — final
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. season — in sport
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. ball — a dance
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. last — finally
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. stock — goods
  24. land — a country

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