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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — to cut
  3. kid — child
  4. game — wild animals
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. clip — a video
  7. game — a match
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. kid — to tease
  16. saw — the tool
  17. saw — the tool
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. bear — the animal
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. bear — the animal
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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