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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. track — a path
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cell — a phone
  5. clip — to cut
  6. chest — of your body
  7. wound — an injury
  8. root — of a plant
  9. track — to keep track
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. wound — an injury
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cell — in biology
  14. root — the cause
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. pitch — completely
  18. clip — a video
  19. root — of a word
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. chest — a box
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. track — a song

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