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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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. fall — to drop
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. tube — the underground
  5. clip — for paper
  6. fall — to drop
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. bark — to shout
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. cell — a phone
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. mark — a trace
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — happy
  16. clip — to cut
  17. cell — in biology
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. tube — a container
  20. fall — the season
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. clip — a video
  23. mark — a grade
  24. cell — in a prison

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