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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. mine — for digging
  3. wound — an injury
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. roll — a list
  7. roll — a cake
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. clip — a video
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. stand — to bear
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. wound — an injury
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — for paper
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. mine — an explosive

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