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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: scale · rest · capital · rash · kid · cold · patient · mouse

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. rest — a break
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rest — what's left
  9. cold — an illness
  10. capital — money
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. kid — to tease
  14. rest — what's left
  15. scale — size or range
  16. capital — a city
  17. rash — a series
  18. rash — hasty
  19. scale — in music
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. capital — a big letter

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