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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 116 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: ball · cold · fall · patient · mouse · cell · bound · row

  1. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  8. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  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. bound — certain
  2. row — a line
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. cold — an illness
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. mouse — for a computer
  9. bound — obliged
  10. ball — a great time
  11. row — to paddle
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. ball — a dance
  15. cold — not warm
  16. fall — to drop
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. fall — the season
  19. cell — a phone
  20. fall — to drop
  21. cell — in biology
  22. bound — tied together
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  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