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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. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. toast — bread
  3. field — a subject
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. clip — for paper
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. wake — a trail
  8. lie — to recline
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. swing — in golf
  11. cold — not warm
  12. swing — music
  13. field — for sport
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. cold — an illness
  16. field — farmland
  17. clip — to cut
  18. clip — a video
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. toast — a drink to someone
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. swing — to play on

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