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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: cold · rash · season · patient · trunk · mine · game · deal

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. season — of the year
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. game — a match
  5. rash — hasty
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. cold — an illness
  8. season — in sport
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. deal — to handle
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. rash — a series
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. cold — not warm
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. mine — for digging
  24. game — a kind of play

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