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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. clip — a video
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — an illness
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. chest — of your body
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. clip — for paper
  12. mark — a trace
  13. cold — not warm
  14. prune — to trim
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. prune — to trim
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. chest — a box
  20. sharp — clever
  21. clip — to cut
  22. mark — a grade
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. chest — of your body

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