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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: fork · cold · march · mine · fall · patient · capital · perch

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. march — the month
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. fall — the season
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. mine — for digging
  7. cold — an illness
  8. march — the month
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. capital — money
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. perch — the fish
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. fork — in a road
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. march — music
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. fall — to drop
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. cold — not warm
  22. capital — a city
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. mine — belonging to me

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