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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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. march — the month
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — not warm
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. clip — to cut
  8. squash — to crush
  9. clip — for paper
  10. march — music
  11. cold — an illness
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. cell — in biology
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. march — the month
  16. can — a tin
  17. clip — a video
  18. squash — the sport
  19. can — a tin
  20. can — to be able to
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. cell — a phone
  24. patient — a sick person

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