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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: hand · fall · root · pound · cold · club · net · patient

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. root — of a plant
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. club — for golf
  5. net — in sport
  6. root — the cause
  7. fall — the season
  8. fall — to drop
  9. club — a group
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. hand — help
  13. club — for dancing
  14. fall — to drop
  15. cold — an illness
  16. root — of a word
  17. pound — a weight
  18. net — after costs
  19. hand — in cards
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. cold — not warm
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. pound — to hit hard

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