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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: patient · mate · straw · pit · field · cold · arm · perch

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. cold — not warm
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. pit — a hole
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. mate — a partner
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. cold — an illness
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. pit — in a race
  13. mate — a friend
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — for sport
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. mate — to breed
  19. field — farmland
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. perch — the fish
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. straw — dry grass

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