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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. season — of the year
  8. season — in sport
  9. clip — for paper
  10. clip — a video
  11. pit — a hole
  12. plane — a tool
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. pit — in a race
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. clip — to cut
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. cold — an illness

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