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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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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: bowl · board · chest · patient · ground · cold · straw · sharp

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. cold — an illness
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. ground — crushed
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. board — a committee
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. chest — a box
  15. ground — the earth
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. chest — of your body
  18. sharp — clever
  19. chest — of your body
  20. ground — a position
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. board — to get on
  24. bowl — to roll

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