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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. ground — a position
  3. clip — for paper
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. cell — a phone
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — to cut
  11. deal — to handle
  12. fall — to drop
  13. cell — in biology
  14. perch — the fish
  15. fall — to drop
  16. ground — crushed
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. fall — the season
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. ground — the earth
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. band — a music group

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