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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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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 · land · patient · lash · foot · cold · cell · bat

  1. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — part of the body
  2. land — to come down
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. row — to paddle
  5. cell — in biology
  6. land — ground
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. row — a line
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bat — the animal
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. land — a country
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. foot — a measure
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. cold — not warm
  24. patient — a sick person

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