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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: fan · wound · cold · roll · patient · ball · racket · march

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. ball — a dance
  5. cold — an illness
  6. march — music
  7. cold — not warm
  8. ball — a great time
  9. roll — a list
  10. march — the month
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. wound — an injury
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. roll — a cake
  19. march — the month
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. wound — an injury
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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