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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. cold — an illness
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. kid — to tease
  6. ball — a dance
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. clip — for paper
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. clip — to cut
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. mark — a trace
  15. mark — a grade
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. fork — in a road
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. clip — a video
  23. cold — not warm
  24. kid — child

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