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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.

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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: fork · patient · nail · band · pitcher · game · cold · kid

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. kid — to tease
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. band — a ring
  9. cold — an illness
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. game — wild animals
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. game — a match
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. band — a music group
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. kid — child
  22. fork — in a road
  23. cold — not warm
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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