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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: wound · patient · club · chest · clip · row · wave · spring

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. clip — to cut
  5. wound — an injury
  6. club — for dancing
  7. row — to paddle
  8. spring — the season
  9. spring — of water
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. spring — a coil
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. row — a line
  14. chest — a box
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. chest — of your body
  17. wound — an injury
  18. club — for golf
  19. clip — a video
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. club — a group
  22. clip — for paper
  23. row — a quarrel
  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