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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: bat · tear · patient · track · pit · cold · foot · fan

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. pit — a hole
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. track — a song
  6. foot — a measure
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. foot — the bottom
  11. tear — from crying
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pit — in a race
  18. tear — to rip
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. track — to keep track
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. bat — the 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