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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: cold · dip · wave · swing · game · track · chest · patient

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cold — not warm
  3. track — a song
  4. swing — to play on
  5. cold — an illness
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. swing — music
  11. track — a path
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. game — a match
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. swing — in golf
  17. dip — to sink
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. chest — a box
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. chest — of your body
  22. track — to keep track
  23. game — wild animals
  24. wave — with your hand

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