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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: patient · rest · wound · file · straw · row · staff · capital

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. rest — a break
  6. staff — employees
  7. row — to paddle
  8. staff — a stick
  9. capital — money
  10. rest — what's left
  11. file — a document
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — an injury
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. file — a tool
  17. capital — a city
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. file — a line of people
  23. rest — what's left
  24. row — a line

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