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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 116 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 was locked up in a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. cold — not warm
  3. club — a group
  4. board — a committee
  5. field — for sport
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. ball — a great time
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. cold — an illness
  10. field — farmland
  11. clip — to cut
  12. clip — a video
  13. club — for golf
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. field — a subject
  16. cell — a phone
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. ball — a dance
  19. clip — for paper
  20. board — to get on
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. club — for dancing
  23. cell — in biology
  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