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

  1. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. clip — a video
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. fall — to drop
  6. cold — an illness
  7. clip — for paper
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. clip — to cut
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. fall — to drop
  14. date — the fruit
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. hand — help
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. bat — the animal
  24. hand — in cards

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