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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. chest — of your body
  3. mate — a partner
  4. face — to confront
  5. mate — a friend
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. mate — to breed
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. chest — a box
  11. clip — a video
  12. face — part of the head
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. ball — a dance
  15. chest — of your body
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. ball — a great time
  19. fall — the season
  20. fall — to drop
  21. face — to point toward
  22. fall — to drop
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — for paper

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