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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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. cap — a hat
  3. wind — moving air
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. ground — a position
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. wind — moving air
  8. ground — crushed
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. rest — what's left
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. rest — a break
  13. pit — in a race
  14. pit — a hole
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. cap — a lid
  17. cap — of ice
  18. ground — the earth
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. content — happy
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. content — the amount
  24. rest — what's left

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