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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: row · patient · board · spring · perch · hand · prune · cold

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. spring — the season
  3. prune — to trim
  4. board — to get on
  5. row — a line
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. spring — of water
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. hand — in cards
  13. spring — a coil
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. board — a committee
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. row — to paddle
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. perch — the fish
  21. prune — to trim
  22. hand — help
  23. cold — an illness
  24. hand — part of the body

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