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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: bass · patient · sharp · firm · prune · cold · land · leaves

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. bass — the fish
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. sharp — clever
  6. cold — not warm
  7. prune — to trim
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. land — ground
  10. prune — to trim
  11. firm — decided
  12. land — to come down
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. firm — steady
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. land — a country
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. firm — a company
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. bass — low music

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