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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 · plane · fall · ground · tear · cold · fork · staff

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. ground — a position
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cold — an illness
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. staff — employees
  8. tear — to rip
  9. fall — to drop
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. fall — the season
  15. staff — a stick
  16. tear — from crying
  17. plane — a tool
  18. staff — employees
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. ground — the earth
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. fork — in a road
  24. plane — in geometry

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