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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 120 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 very handy with a ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. bark — to shout
  4. last — to go on
  5. last — finally
  6. saw — the tool
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. degree — an amount
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. last — final
  11. degree — temperature
  12. wound — an injury
  13. clip — for paper
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. pit — a hole
  18. clip — a video
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. pit — in a race
  21. clip — to cut
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. degree — from a university
  24. bark — of a tree

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