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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 120 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: lie · march · bat · patient · straw · wound · shower · cold

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. march — the month
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. cold — not warm
  7. march — music
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. wound — an injury
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. march — the month
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. lie — to recline
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. shower — rain
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. shower — to wash
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. bat — the animal

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