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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: root · race · patient · wind · march · cell · cold · mark

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. wind — moving air
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. mark — a trace
  5. race — a contest
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. march — music
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. mark — a grade
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. march — the month
  14. march — the month
  15. root — of a word
  16. cell — in biology
  17. cold — not warm
  18. race — the arms race
  19. cell — a phone
  20. race — humankind
  21. cold — an illness
  22. root — of a plant
  23. wind — moving air
  24. root — the cause

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