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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. stand — for spectators
  3. band — a music group
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. clip — a video
  6. stand — to bear
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. rash — hasty
  9. chip — for betting
  10. spell — a short time
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. rash — a series
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. clip — for paper
  16. spell — magic
  17. cold — an illness
  18. stand — on your feet
  19. clip — to cut
  20. chip — to eat
  21. cold — not warm
  22. spell — letters
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. rash — on the skin

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