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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. wind — moving air
  4. clip — for paper
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. clip — to cut
  7. snap — to click
  8. last — finally
  9. ruler — a monarch
  10. clip — a video
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. last — to go on
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. wind — moving air
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. plane — a tool
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. last — final
  24. wind — to turn a key

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